zombieman

Been reading reviews, and this is the first year I can remember when the whole event sounds to be firing on all cylinders. Sounds like A&D really stepped up to the plate this year, and I'm really excited about being there on the 7th and 10th.

The live feed of the entry was nice. I watched it for about 10 minutes and couldn't tell where they looped the video. The house feed was from LT, and honestly, it kinda sucked. With very few exceptions, it just showed the endless conga line looking at the scare and going "meh". If you're going to have a live feed to tempt possible customers, at least pick one with generally good customer reactions.

but....was the result any different?

I find it interesting that once you finish all the puzzles it tells you how many attempts each one took. Has anyone finished all in one attempt? I'm wondering if there's a different ending in that event.

A lot of good information posted already. I fly in from So Cal every year, but have learned to go no later than the 2nd weekend. By the 3rd weekend, kids are out of school and the park is slammed. As mentioned, your best bet is to either do the Stay and Scream, or get to the park entrance NO LATER THAN 6:00. Get through security and wai in the holding area right before the gates. Once you get in, head straight ahead to go to the SoundStage houses. Do NOT stop to even look at a scarezone. Do NOT stop and get a locker. Go to each of the SS houses - the queues are horrifically long (plan 5 minutes minimum walking from exit of one to entrance of the next). NOTE: EVERYONE goes to the SS houses first, so if the park promises to be especially full, you might want to bypass the SS houses and rush to the back of the park (Disaster/Amity) and do those first. For the first approx 20 minutes of opening the gates, you will have free-reign, but after 30 minutes, the wait times will hit 15 minutes. After a hour, forget about it. They will stay that was all night - but will back off between 1AM and 2AM. Another word of advice - always be aware of when B&T show lets out, and AVOID houses in that area for at least 45 minutes after the show.

1. Legendary Truth: The Wyandot Estate 2. The Orfanage: Ashes to Ashes 3. Hades: The Gates of Ruin 4. ZombieGeddon 5. Havoc: Dogs of War 6. PsychoScareapy: Echoes of Shadybrook 7. Horror Nights: The Hallow'd Past 8. Catacombs: Black Death Rising Does anybody have a guess at which house is going to be humor-based?

Shadowlurker, will the UTH announcement be soon? Also, any word on whether a Uni admission needs to be purchased? Every year in the past, the UTH could be attended WITHOUT buying a park ticket - you just to VIP services and they escort you out at the end of the tour. I'm counting on that being the same this year.

Is it just me, or do you think that the standby line might be SHORTER than the EP line at times? In my opinion, Universal is not charging enough for the FFP with EP. Unless they are selling an extremely limited number of these passes, they could be painting themselves into a corner this year, resulting in huge EP lines.

Yeah, Festival of the Dead was the first thing that hit me, too. Last year, Knott's did a non-scary 3D house based on that theme and it was a big hit. Catered to the immense hispanic population in CA. Wouldn't surpsise me a bit if HHN followed suit with a scarezone. I hope it's not a house, though.

Can someone do a little Photoshop work to try to bring out the patterns? I'm at work, so I can't do it mesylf. I'm curious as to what a negative image might reveal. [edit - you beat me to it...] For those trying to fit togeter a puzzle, keep in mind the different ways the designers could screw with us. The pieces may need to be: rotated (by any number of defrees) mirrored (about an axis or diagonal) resized overlapped

Moonfall, if the Facebook responses are from LT characters created by and maintained by USO, why would you fear posting them? I have to believe those responses have been sanitized before the reach you - at that point it becomes marketing material.

With twice as many operating days as the early 2000s, sold-out nights are a thing of the past. I don't think an icon has any effect on attendance. Nor do I see Universal unveiling any new icon this year. In fact, I think that a lot of us are going to feel a little let down this year, for a couple of reasons: 1) There's a good argument for Universal using the success of the Boy Wizard next door to coast through at least a year's worth of events. Why spend a bundle of cash to plus the Halloween, Mardi-Gras and Christmas events when you're going to already have a bunch of new customers brought in by Harry? 2) No Michael Roddy - even though this year will probably incorporate elements of the plans he made during 2009, some will feel the loss whether it's warranted or not.

"XYZ Years of Fear(s)" is the most used anniversary-related slogan in the haunt industry...and it's been used to death. Busch used it, Rocky Point used it, Queen Mary used it, Netherworld used it, Knott's used it (they even called a maze "25 Years of Fears"). Shouldn't we expect more from Universal?