12monkeys

Everyone would get off the roller coaster at TWD theme park complaining about how much they hated it, how it was just another roller coaster and not original, how it wasn't scary, and how they wished Universal would build a new original ride in its place. But then everyone would then get right back in line to go on it again.

Ticket price is already insane enough. No need to give Universal a reason to raise it even more. I'm fine with the cheap visible ones.

Here's a video walk through of Orlando's AvP for comparison https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNqRRKo5L_Y It's a bit hard comparing the two since one is night vision and the other is "natural" lighting with editing. It looks like Hollywood decided to go with slow buildup style haunted house, starting out with just face huggers, then dead predators, live predators, aliens, aliens and predators, and finally the reveal of the huge queen, while Orlando went a lot more action packed haunted house starting out almost immediately with an alien attack, and throwing in the marines fighting back.

Amazing photos, Mark. You've got quite an eye for catching light. I think the Bayou shack is my favorite. That 16-35mm lens at f8 really does some incredible work.

The Hotel that my wife and I have settled upon over our last few trips to HHN is the Best Western off International Drive. It's only $70 a night, about a mile from Universal, and right next to Uno's Pizzeria & Grill (which has some delicious deep dish Chicago style pizza that really hits the spot after a day of running around theme parks. Uno's is also open super late so you can hit it up after going to HHN). Another nice bonus: the hotel's free continental breakfast is really good for an economy hotel. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g34515-d223718-Reviews-BEST_WESTERN_International_Drive_Orlando-Orlando_Florida.html For food inside the park, I don't think anyone has mentioned Mythos at Islands of Adventure. They're ranked as one of the top theme park restaurants in the world. Prices are decent enough (for theme park prices, anyway). http://www.themeparkinsider.com/reviews/universal's_islands_of_adventure/mythos_restaurant/ As far as being able to do everything, my wife and I go end of September about when you're planning on going so my experiences should be similar to what you should expect. One day each per USO and IOA should be more than enough to hit up all the rides (even without fast passes), and then when you attend HHN, you can focus completely on haunted houses. Using a HHN fast pass in late September will give you enough time to hit up every house at least once and catch the shows.

They could always do a big red button scare with Jack and/or Chance (I think it was in the Shady Brook Asylum revisit where they did that with Jack before). I bet that would please a lot of fans as it would be something secret-ish to discover.

Does anyone think theres any chance UO is going to let people openly take video of the mazes this year? Weren't there specific days or times people could do that last year?

Predators for the tall males seems to make sense to me. Or a super tall (and thus gaunt) Wendigo for the cannibal house. For the older male, perhaps the Charles Dance (Lord Tywin from Game of Thrones) role in Dracula Untold? Maybe a Hershel/NotHershel zombie for Walking Dead? Ah, Dr. Loomis! Forgot about him. Michael Myers was supposed to be pretty tall, wasn't he? (Edit: Michael Myers was 6'. I think I was thinking of Jason).

It seems to me that the loss of the Icon and the disappearance of an overall theme seem to coincide with Comcast buying out NBC Universal in late 2009-early 2010. I wonder if that had anything to do with it. New executives can mean taking fewer creative chances with unique ideas and instead investing the budget into sure things such as easily marketed popular IPs.

Heres some (VERY tangentially related) news to tie everyone over until HHN announces something: Skulls Unlimited is opening a Skeleton Museum of Osteology on I-Drive, Orlando next spring: http://skeletonsorlando.com Someone out there with a taste for the macabre has to be excited about this coming to Orlando besides me, right? Back to HHN, I'm also pro-original houses. IPs are fun and they bring in larger budgets, but they can be a little bit more predictable because if you know the movie well enough, you know what locations to expect more or less. The creative team can have all sorts of fun figuring out how to interpret those locations and the recognition of, "Oh hey, its that movie theater from AWiL!" is fun, but I like it a little more when I have no idea at all what is lurking around the next corner, like the bathroom blood rave in Castle Vampyr. I also miss the slow official reveals and elaborate main website of HHNs past.

If memory serves me correctly, in the Friday the 13th house we got a number of different costume versions of Jason. It's feasible we could see both the original Mike Myers and Rob Zombie's version in the same house.

Hmmmm... Rituals... Beasties... a maze based on this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQOta_PP_b0

What an alien queen puppet done on a strict budget would look like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vtLK-DxdGc

RE ThNdIzNiR's guesses: Since Dr. Jimmy's 13a matches up with Croatoa/Wendigo, it would make sense that 13b would match up with From Dusk Till Dawn (Dusk/Dawn :: Sunrise/Sunset). In retrospect, it seems like Jimmy was trying to clue us in with a 2 part clue that the theme for that house hadn't been set in stone. I think a better guess among Dr. Jimmy's clues for Dracula Untold would be I Get a Kick Out of You. Some people speculated originally that they thought it made sense as a vampire related hint (the lyrics are about being tired of everything else in life and the only being perked up by [the blood of] another person).

I too am in the small minority who enjoyed the house and the movie but I was unaware of the "fancy peacock" thing. Care to elaborate?