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?

I believe we figured that out when someone with connections posted a house list with all the house names blurred out as a tease. Some clever individual figured out that once he had identified what font was being used in the non-blurred out parts, he could decipher the blurred out parts out based on the tiny bits and pieces of letters that hadn't been blurred (tops and bottoms). One of the first things they deciphered was "Dracula Untold" which turned out to be a movie being released by Universal this year that seemed to match up pretty well with code names, clues, and rumors.

Does any super-fan know what the latest start date for building a maze has been over the years? Or can think of any examples of last minute big changes? The ones that jump to my mind are the Story Teller being thrown in at the last second for HHN 15 (I suppose that wasn't that big of a last minute change), and HHN 11 in 2001 when they decided to tone down a lot of the gore due to September 11th.

"I am Altar-ing the Crows House deal. Pray I do not Altar it any further" -- Darth Vader I suppose this is good news for me. I probably won't be making it to the event this year (only second time I've missed it in 11 years, the first being for my wedding), and I'd really like to see the Wendigo/Croatoa house. Perhaps they'll put it aside for next year. Now if only I can convince them to put off the Alien house for another year. As for all the people wondering why Universal would "throw away" an IP house with an unproven franchise: Dracula Untold is a Universal property so they don't have to go through any hoops/pay any money for the rights to use it. They already have a large draw for John Q. Public to come to HHN with established franchises (TWD and presumably Halloween and Alien/AVP), so they're simply using the Dracula Untold house as a way of drumming up some relatively cheap publicity/interest in the movie. And for those who are convinced this movie is going to be a dud: I wouldn't be so quick to judge. If a horror movie is really bad, studios will usually wait to release it until January or February when people are tired of winter and will go see any crappy movie just to get out of the house (I, Frankenstein anyone?). The delay from August to October could simply be because they decided it made more sense to release a movie in the horror genre nearer to Halloween instead of during Summer where it would have to compete with huge Summer Blockbusters. Perhaps post production got tied up somewhere and they simply need a little bit more time to finish it. Furthermore, plenty of movies don't get a trailer until only a month or two before release. Early marketing can be a crapshoot that can backfire if people get tired of a film months before its even released.

http://www.webmd.com/schizophrenia/guide/schizophrenia-medications Hope that helps.

Another note: the Wendigo is an Algonquin myth, and the Algonquins were the tribe associated with the Roanoke Colony. The basic idea was that if a person turned to cannibalism they turned into a Wendigo. Perhaps the backstory of this house is that the Roanoke Colony turned to cannibalism over a particularly rough winter, despite the warnings of the Algonquins, and thus all turned into Wendigos. Another thought, have we had any ideas as to what the scare zone outside of the Garden Of Allah Villas might be? Because a Wendigo/Roanoke Colony scare zone would really fit right at home in that forrest-y area. Maybe even we could see this and the Mexico/Aztec scare zone together, where if you take the path under the trees you get one theme, but if you cut close to the water you get the other. Has any one figured out where that topographical map in CC#14 is hinting at?

If CC #14 "A feast in Massachusetts" and Dr. Jimmy's #13A is for the Wendigo (I think you may be on to something there), then perhaps Dr. Jimmy's #13B clue (Sunrise Sunset) corresponds to the "A show in Mexico" part from CC #14. Maybe in the same way that Hollywood is being given a choice to vote on which scare zone they want, Orlando will be given a vote of which house/scare zone they want: Wendigo or an urban legend/myth from Mexico (El Cucuy?). El Cucuy fits with the "Sunrise Sunset" clue in that he comes out at night and he's known for perching on top of roof tops (Fiddler on the Roof). Another guess for the Mexico part which I can't really link to Dr. J's #13B, since Wendigo is all about cannibalism, perhaps something involving the Aztecs?

Looking over the Who Am I clues, perhaps The Dust Witch was originally captured by Oddfellow ("bound by bone and dust" "indentured to the dark man"), but then was (unknowingly?) released by Jack when he killed Oddfellow and took over the carnival (clue #3 is about Jack, and mentions the Dust Witch serving him, but the wording doesn't seem quite as ominous as the wording for serving under Odd Fellow, so maybe she was doing it out of debt because Jack released her). Now that Jack's been captured in the lantern, she plans to unleash him as the ultimate repayment so she will no longer be in his debt ("Forever bound to the vessel (lantern), I shall see his restitution").

That'd be a fair bet. *rimshot*

Some minor image adjustment in Photoshop got a ferris wheel to come out of the background.

I've got an image to post in this thread. Can I host it on this site somehow or do I have to host it elsewhere and link to it?