FullMetalBoxers

Did you notice how all of the Marines' bandanas were yellow, specifically? No red ones? Or how none of the Pulse Rifles had their ammo counters turned on? None of that was an accident. There were a lot of "Corporate says..." frustrations for the cast working this house. I'm just gonna leave it at that.

Now that the run is over, I can safely say, sorry... But I was severely limited in what I was permitted by management to say in the scene, with regards to lines from the actual movies. I actually got told not to say "Whatever you're gonna do, do it fast!" at one point. Oh well.

Those aren't Predators, they're Jedi. They just wearing masks to hide their identities.

It's not claustrophobia they're worried about. They're worried about someone who shouldn't be going through the tunnel (elderly, back injury, pregnant, etc) going through it anyway because they didn't realize there was an alternate exit for them, and getting injured and suing as a result. Again, I think it's a lot more likely that people will not know the tunnel is there than the bypass exit, but let's face it... when has something not actually being the theme park's fault ever stopped people from suing anyway? There's always a tug of war between what the creative side wants to do, i.e. what makes for the best scene or the best scares, and what Operations wants, i.e. what limits the chance of anything going wrong, but at least as of last night a balance seems to have been found between the two.

The tunnel is indeed open again, but it remains to be seen if it will stay that way. Corporate is worried about the possibility of a lawsuit if someone doesn't realize there is an alternate exit. Personally, I don't really get that, considering that the bypass exit has an Ops and a big green exit sign. It's a lot more common for people to not realize the tunnel is there until they're already past it. We'll see what happens.

Just a quick note about AvP - the actors weren't embarrassed, they were in pain. There were a number of issues, from wardrobe problems hurting the performers to numerous effects outages throughout the night causing some blown-out vocal chords, that were holding the house back. Seems like no matter how many years we play this game, some things never change! These are all valid concerns you brought up. Trust me, they're already being addressed.

I'd be really surprised if you were wrong about that one, mysti. I gotta say, I'm with a lot of you guys on the lack of build-up... it honestly feels like UO isn't even trying, compared to previous years. Personally, I don't need any help getting excited - I start doing the "Is it freaking October yet??" dance the week before auditions - but still, I miss the hype! I get that they're focused on Dionagonagon right now (and, yeah, I'll admit it, the place is pretty neat), but c'mon guys. At least give us something more than an occasional Twitter post.

Sorry to hear you didn't get in, man. To answer your question, though: Fire Crew still existed last year, and "FC" was one of the acronyms in the pile of rehearsal dates at the bottom of the audition sheet so I'm assuming it's still around this year as well. Last year Active Backup was replaced with something called "The Collective," although I'm not really sure what the difference was other than just a name change. You'd have to ask someone who was cast there. But, yeah, there was something that looked like Active Backup in the rehearsal acronyms as well, so I'm wondering if they shelved the "Collective" thing and went back to the original Active Backup format for this year's event?

Regarding Clue #2: "Pain flowing like a river" could be a reference to the river Acheron, the "river of pain" in Greek mythology, which was also one of the names given to the planet LV-426 in Alien and Aliens - further evidence you guys guessed it right. Didn't see this posted anywhere, but apologies if it's old news.

For any who might be interested, casting emails are already starting to trickle out for those who were at the Reunion audition. I think that's the fastest I've ever seen. Mods, please feel free to move this post if this isn't the place for it.

Keep the feedback coming, good and bad alike! You never know who might be listening...

It's a liability issue, plain and simple. All it takes is one guest going to Guest Services and complaining that the zombie reached too close to their face, and boom, that scare tactic is now forbidden for the rest of the season. If you think that's bad, you should have seen the restrictions the Dragon Warriors had on their polearm-sword things. Forget using them to scare... they weren't even allowed to do *anything* with them except hold them vertical with the (completely dull) blade pointed upwards, and twist side to make noise with the little drums attached to the handle. I understand the importance of safety, but the end result just looked silly.

I was Fire Crew again last year and worked that street a couple of times. I studiously avoided it, afterwards. The Walkers on the streets were *directed*, quite specifically, that they were only allowed to be so aggressive; we weren't even allowed to reach in front of guests for a startle scare, it was explicitly forbidden. Between that and the masks, which, let's face it, were pretty laughable, the Walkers really had to work for their scares. Mucho respect to the Scareactors who dealt with it every night.

This is exactly how I feel about the announcement (although I actually enjoyed Cabin in the Woods, personally.) The walkers are *not* what makes The Walking Dead a good show. They're window dressing. What makes the show worth watching is the characters - their drama, their conflicts, and the choices and sacrifices they have to make to survive. The Walking Dead isn't a Zombie show in my opinion, it's a survival drama that just happens to be set in the zombie apocalypse. At HHN, on the other hand... The Walking Dead haunted houses (and now, an entire street experience, even) are entire attractions based around the single most superficial detail of the entire show. It doesn't carry any of what actually makes the show as successful as it has been; it's just Scareactors in zombie masks, with set piece and prop references scattered around to say, "hey guys, look, it's The Walking Dead, see?" I'm really disappointed. Did the executives really feel that the TWD maze was successful enough to warrant not only a sequel maze, but devoting the entire street experience to it? I didn't think the TWD street zone got good reviews at all last year.