zombieman

It took me many years to get them all. Have an ongoing search on Ebay and be prepared to act. Of the pre 15, 1997-2014 are pretty common to see. The one that took me the longest to get was 1995. I have only seen a couple ever listed. Even 1991 was more common. Also, the artwork on 1992 and 1993 are nearly identical. Double check to make sure which one you are bidding on. Good luck!

Happy horrordays, all. Hoping Krampus paid you a visit and gave you some time away from the kids. See you in 2020!

Prob not until Jan or so. We did do the unlimited express on one night and just focused on the houses. $550 for two people and we didn't feel like staying the whole event.....so that may give you an idea of the review.

I'm all for the multiple icons, but only when it makes sense. 20th, 25th - made sense to bring them back. 30th might make sense. I But sweet 16? Making up a story just to get the icons together...I don't know. And to use that to honor the very first HHN house. So strange. Personally, I think the 10 year anniversaries are fine for an icon party; 35th, 45th seems a bit much. Maybe if there was some new icons.... (and sorry, Bone is not an icon in my book)

Oh dear God... Yeah, there was a crapload of discussion on this back in 2010. There was even more back in 2008....but those were the days of HHN Vault. A trademark search shows that Bobbie Weiner still holds an active trademark (she just re-filed) but the purposes are related to drinks (ale, wine, spirits, etc), make-up and jewelry. There was (and may still be) a huge line of prosthetics and makeup under the name Bloody Mary. I still have a 20 year old bottle of Bloody Mary stage blood. I don't have a clue as to why I still have that... One would think that when used for other purposes the name can be used - but way back in the day (2008), she filed a TM violation against Universal even though her TMs were for makeup back then. Word was that there was no license agreement. One could argue that BM drinks and jewelry were sold. I think it was the first year that they had the jello shot "blood bags" and of course there were HHN keychains and pins with the BM image, but not the words "Bloody Mary". The argument was that HHN was not marketing the name itself; it was a name assigned to a character at the event, based on a public domain legend - HHN created her image; there was no generally accepted representation of BM prior to that. Then came HHN 2010 and no BM appearance in the icon zone. Heck, no mention of her at all by Universal - presumably because Universal didn't want to pay to use her. Really, aside from the commercial and early marketing materials, there was really no mention of the name Bloody Mary at the 2008 event. The subsequent promos and marketing materials really revolved around the catchphrase "Say my name!" in connection with a mirror. People's minds connected the dots pretty well. Shortly after the 2008 event, Bobbi Weiner's website was updated to mention that HHN and other haunts licensed the name (which resulted in a head injuries on the forums due to excessive eye rolling). Then in 2015, she launched a press release stating that she is formally licensing the name to haunts. So did that mean that she finally had the legal backing to do so? Because that was the first press release following the whole fiasco. So what does this all mean for HHN 30? Universal no doubt can bring BM back.....for a price. At this point, BM ultimately played a pretty minor role in the much bigger (and I'd argue more interesting) Legendary Truth universe. The Reflections of Fear house was not well received. But Legendary Truth: Wyandot Estate house was a fan favorite. If you could bring back BM for a licensing fee or the next chapter of Legendary Truth with no associated fee, I think the choice is clear as to what would be better for the fans of HHN and the bean counters of Universal. For anyone who didn't get to experience HHN 18's use of Bloody Mary (and the last great slow-roll HHN website reveal....RIP), this is a wonderful telling of how she was woven in to each and every house. Warning: it becomes name soup toward the middle, as the web becomes thick. Upon listening to it, I had no idea how deeply interwoven the story was. By the way, one of the most important characters in that year's story was installed in the park in 2008 and remains to this day. See if you can spot it next time you're in the park.

Coat of Arms of Archbishop Francis Patrick Keough Motto: MARIA SPES NOSTRA (Mary Our Hope) Keough was known as the "Archbishop of the poor" due to his dedication to orphans and the aged Bloody Mary (or Mary Agana's) return would be great. But Legacy never leaves such straightforward clues. He plays 5-dimensional chess.

I search for anything Horror nights related or haunt related that included HHN 29. In order of my favorite downward (purely my opinions): Orlando Informer - by far the best Uni podcast around Scarezone (the first and second season had some amazing HHN guests - worth searching for) Universal After Dark - This one is going monthly, as Amanda is starting a new HHN podcast in a few weeks Unofficial Orlando Inside Universal Dis Unplugged Universal edition (Would be at the top except I can't handle Ryno for more than two minutes at a time...) Season Pass - primarily west coast based. They also do Knotts. Other ones that are new (to me) HHN 365 - a startup podcast. Not bad. Catacombs of Horror - They've been around for a long time. They have extensive historical walkthrus. I mean room by room that we have all forgotten. It's like they have old blueprints or something. Creepy Kingdom - only tried it for the HHN reviews. They are West coast based.

I've had a blast listening to all the podcasts tweaking their top ten lists. What seems to be consistent from these were: A lot of high praise for this year. Monsters & Graveyard Games are at the top of everyone's list. HOTC was much better than everyone expected - even if it wasn't their cup of tea Yeti was quite high on lists. Stranger Things seemed to disappoint. HUGE polarization on Nightengales, KKFOS, GB, and Depths. You loved it or hated it. Us seemed to grow on people, to where it was high on lists. AoV did not disappoint like last year. Complete redemption. This year's Fallen award seems to go to Vanity Ball. A lot of people said it started strong but just petered out over the season. There doesn't seem to be a single soul that was even indifferent to the Lagoon show. It is an instant classic which puts a crapload of pressure on the pour soul who programmed it. I'd get started on 30 now if I was him/her... How do you even match it, let alone top it? Anyone else who went at both start and end of the season want to comment on changes? Effects that went missing? Houses/zones that improved or declined? I also heard something mentioned by exactly one podcast that conflicted when all else I heard. That was that Graveyard Games was the last house that was directed by Mike Aiello. I thought Charles and Patrick each took 5 and directed them. If it was Mike behind the scenes - what a way to go out, right?

Asking this AFTER HHN has ended, but still wondering... Do they still have the Stranger Things experience up and running in the old T2 gift shop exit? If it's not open, does the exterior still look the same? I mean it's not HHN related, so it would make sense if it was still there and they were still gathering research data.

I miss Graveyard Games SO MUCH!!!

Zombie Approved! I was thinking just last week - how could they represent all of Terra Cruentus in a single house. This comes pretty damn close. I like having the Storyteller being tortured - nice twist. I was thinking about the Terror Mines - clearly it wouldn't make sense for us to have helmets for just one room, but what if that room had actors wearing the helmets being mutilated by the monsters who then go after us? I mean, seeing Terror Mines from a third person perspective. Kind of like how we saw the kids being attacked in Graveyard Games. I'd also like to see the Gorewood Forest and blood being extracted to create iron. Some stuff from Saws & Steam comes to mind.

Could definitely do without NOES, Saw and Purge. You had me at 7 originals and the two shows. But hell, give me that and the other three houses can all be Walking Dead for all I care. But I will say again that the 30th cannot go by without Terra Cruentus playing a non-minor role. The prophecies don't have the Terra Queen just stopping by to say "Hey" in a scarezone.

I've seen those plaques in multiple years. Might be a tease; I doubt we will make it through 30 without an appearance by at least Jack.

When I read this, what came to mind was some of the very cool houses and scarezones they have done in HHN Singapore, based on Asian folklore. This site has great detail of every year as well as photos and video. Although I've never been to any of them, HHN4 is the one I wish I could have attended. What they did for an icon was so cool, complete with media gifts, and an incredible opening ceremony. They have shied away from IP for the most part (but of course they did Stranger Things). This place is on my bucket list, for sure. They used Jack one year but otherwise use original icons, and they usually have website games like HHN Orlando used to. Really, USS HHN is like the golden age of Orlando - no corporate synergy to dictate what you can and cannot do. What I'm getting at is - there is a lot of untapped potential of ideas that have been successfully presented in Universal parks besides Orlando and Hollywood.

Damn! I went near opening weekend, so I missed the sign and of course Boingo. Yes, that definitely sounds like the end. Thanks

Some breaking Knott's news totally unrelated to Scary Farm. Well, maybe indirectly related: Voyage to the Iron Reef is CLOSING in Jan! The ride was pretty popular, low maintenance, and had a really cool steampunk theme and adjacent store. I'm really not too excited for what will be going in it's place: Knott's Beary Tales 4D shooter... Not joking. It's a re-skinning of the ride and presumably the store. For those that are not old, here's the history: Way back in 1975, a dark ride was built in that location called Knott's Beary Tales. It was not a shooter. Just a dark ride with singing animatronics. The ride closed in 1986, and became Kingdom of the Dinosaurs a year later. That, too, was not a shooter. It was a dark ride with the same track layout, but it had a time travelling theme with animatronic dinosaurs. Think Epcot's Dinosaur!, but without the motion base cars. Kingdom of the Dinosaurs was used for Scary Farm from 1987-1996, usually as a ride in darkness, but in several years with the dinosaurs visible. In 2004 KOD as it was known closed and remained shuttered for 11 years until Iron Reef took over. So now we are going full circle - back to the original theme. It will be closed for a quick transition, so it should have same track layout. Just new skins. and videos. Unless we get to kill bears (unlikely), it's gonna become a kiddie ride - Bear Story Mania, so to speak. This will open in 2020. Here is an excellent article on Beary Tales.

Did you go? How was it?

I'll second the suggestion to look up the story behind the event. It was incredible. This was when HHN took place in IOA, yet they used three of the nearby soundstages. Everyone was coming off of the Lord of the Rings trilogy along with the second Hobbit movie released the year before, so as the site was coming to life, many (including me) were rolling our eyes saying it looked like they were trying to do a LOTR themed event. It was anything but. Between the look of Jurassic Park area and Lost Continent (before potter moved in), the park was ideal for what they did. They even managed to make it seem like you weren't in Marvel Island (mostly). HHN 30 must - MUST - have some reference to Terra Queen. Even though they came up with this under Michael J Roddy (who preceded TJ Mariano who preceded Mike Aiello) the people currently running HHN are well aware of the prophecy and won't let the 30th go by without paying homage. I have zero doubt about that. Personally, I'd love it if they somehow were able to use Lost Continent area of IOA for HHN 30 - had it become Terra Curentus complete with a house, even though there was no house in that area for HHN 15. But they do have the Sinbad theater at their disposal... And since it's so near, imagine if they had Hagrid open during HHN. A guy can dream...

It should be mentioned that Universal sent out a survey during HHN this year. Among the questions was: Have you seen the Bill & Ted show at past HHNs? You don't put a question like that on a survey if you are just teasing people. So personally, I think there is definitely hope. As for The Hanging, I know there is speculation (I noted it in my Haunt review). Where have you heard that it is officially done?

"Scary" means a whole lot of things, depending on who is being asked. To someone new to haunts, everything is scary, and by scary I mean they feel like they will chicken out at the last second or not make it through. My daughter experienced Scary the first time I took her to a haunt at 14. Now she's 16 and not much scares her. To haunt veterans like us, is there really anything scary anymore? Or do we now go through the houses watching others' reactions to gauge scariness? Or do we go through to see how they pulled off the magic? I have done magic for a long time and am a member at the Magic Castle. When I first got into it, and learned how much of it was done, the idea of "magic" was lost forever. Instead it became watching to see how well moves were hidden. It's a different degree of wonder, but I use that analogy as to why we still go to HHN today, even when it no longer scares us. I don't really get "scared" anymore in haunts - even the "extreme" ones. About the best I can hope for is startled, and that usually happens when my attention is diverted. I think hands down, the "scariest" house this year is Graveyard Games, and I was startled in it each and every time. The reason being is that the house has an much larger than normal number of scare options for actors - and they tend to use each and every one. In 15 years of HHN I cannot recall so many boo holes crammed into one house. The last time I was legit scared in a haunted house was around 2008 at Erebus in Pontiac, Michigan. They had this one room that had a fantastic acrophobia effect. At least, this was the way I recall it... The room is nearly pitch black. You are walking along a dimly lit path on the floor. Suddenly lights below the floor turn on to show a very long drop on either side of you. The path ahead narrows to just a few inches wide. Blowing fans helped to make you feel like you were balanced on a beam. I came to a sudden stop when the lights turned on and I was convinced there was a drop on either side. I mean, I knew there was no way it could be real - it was a mirror effect - but my mind was doing serious battles with my feet. I think they even had various breaks in the path, urging you to jump from one to another. I bet the actual room was not much like how I remembered it, but I bet many of the "scary things" we remember from houses did not actually happen the way we recall. The In-Between at HHN 21 had a similar effect in the "Christmas Light Room", where they simply had a mirrored walkway and a sanded "path" you walk on. I got a similar sense of vertigo in that one. But that's me. I don't think I'm afraid of heights, but put me on a ledge and I will have a problem. Clowns, monsters, noises, etc. Doesn't phase me. Concerning IP vs Original, if an IP scared the hell out of you as a kid, then a house will have a great chance of scaring you. But an original will be an unknown quantity to all, and history has shown that the scariest houses are almost always originals. To me, Poltergeist was GOAT because that clown in the movie scared me as a kid. But A&D took that clown - that had a screen time of under a minute - and turned it into the last 1/3 of the house. They were able to tear the scab off so many scary memories and make them fresh. It was essentially an Original wearing an IP mask. That's the way all IP houses houses should be.

Returned to Haunt on 10/26 - arguably the busiest night of 2019 Purchased general admission + Fright Lane/Fast Lane ($180 total) Lines for all houses were upwards of 90 minutes all night long. Fright Lane made that wait under 5 minutes per house (usually a walk on). I've said it before - Fright Lane is the way to go. Worth every penny, even on the most crowded night. And it was crowded. Had to wait a full hour in line just to get carne asada fries. Changes since start of season: Wax Works: First scene was to have had a rotating turntable (before/after scene) with scareactor. They briefly had the turntable working at start of season. It was not by the end of the season. Wax Works: First scene also had a scareactor controlling a spotlight on a stand. Was able to shine it in your face. End of season - light was gone. Empty stand remained. No actor. Wax Works: All three guest activated buttons still worked Depths: The elevator room is gone. Don't know what happened, but you go through the original path once again. Depths: The ship was rocking a lot less. Depths: The ground mist in the Kraken room is just not working. Wasn't working at beginning of season, either. I'm guessing the room is just too big and hot so the hazer cannot keep up. Dark Entities: A few puppets were gone Dark Entities: Discovered that they have several guest activates triggers in the house. Look for rectangular iPad shaped panels with a grid of green lights. Press center to activate lights/sounds Dark Ride: Discovered they have guest activated buttons in the Surveillance Room. There are three large buttons (Green, Yellow, Red) right there on the console. I pressed the Red one and it triggered some lights and sounds. Once you trigger one, it takes about 30 seconds to reset. Puppet Up: The really toned down the show, simply by "not hearing" some of the dirtier suggestions or by saying ahead of time they've heard every dirty suggestion imaginable, and to suggest some funny ideas. Still way more extreme than anything Knotts has done before. I imagine this will be returning for many years. Makes sense as people eat it up, and show holds up regardless of time period. In all, there seemed to me to be about 1/4 of the scareactors missing from mazes. Even so, they really seemed to be pulsing the lines even with this crowd. I found myself alone in the mazes quite a lot. Dark Entities really improved for me. Mostly from finding those triggers, but it just seemed more fun for some reason. Origins just gets better every time. So many new things to see. Next time you go through, check out that scene where you look into "ghost town streets". Fog rolls down the whole street. You round a bend and see it from a different angle, looking down the length. Turn your head to the left and using a simple mirror it seems to extend another 100 feet in the other direction. Look up and you will see you are entering The Haunted Shack. So damn good. My favorite Haunt maze ever. I went through this around 5 times in 30 minutes - as the normal wait was 75 min. Thanks Fright Lane! Didn't do Pumpkin Eater or Special Ops this time. Focused on my favorite mazes. 7:30: entered park 2AM left park Wax Works: 2 times Depths: 3 times Paranormal: 2 times Dark entities: 3 times Origins: 5 times Shadowlands: 1 time Dark Ride: 2 times Pumpkin Eater: 0 times Special ops: 0 times Log Ride: 0 times Hanging: 0 times Conjurers: 1 time Puppet Up: 1 time Wait for food: 75 min (it's not a Knotts trip without carne asada fries. They give you hope for mankind) Iron Reef: 1 time (15 minute wait, as Fright Lane dumps you out upstairs in queue. Standby was 60 min) Montezooma's Revenge: 1 time (15 minute wait, as they build up Fright Lane line until it can take an entire train. Standby was 60 min) Other Rides: none Total time spent waiting in line for mazes: About 30 min Spent about 30 min in Bizarre Bazaar, looking at haunt artwork. Most of the pieces were sold. They do have prints near the checkout counter that range from $10-$50. I bought "the Hanging" - $15, "Wax Works" - $20, and the one that looked like the Haunt version of the stretching portrait room - $30. The original Wax Works piece by Daniel Miller is still available for $200. Also, discovered Boysenberry Caramels. 3 for $2. Damn, they are good. Had no idea about the boysenberry until the first one. Subtle, but good. Even with seemingly missing scarectors, Knotts haunt 2019 has the strongest lineup ever. Far and away better than anything HHN Hollywood has done in quite a number of years. In my opinion, it is THE best California based theme park haunt around, and a heck of a good deal for the money (go on an off night and you don't need Fright lane to have fun). The only theme park haunt that is better is HHN Orlando. This coming weekend: HHN Hollywood. Honestly, still no big desire to go. But my daughter likes it... Murdy has murdered it for me.

Cool review. Late is better than never! I especially liked the reviews for the IP houses where you had not seen the movie. Happy Death Day and to some extent Trick R Treat at least to me seem like houses that wold be very confusing if one had not seen the movie. It says a lot about A&D that you enjoyed the houses despite not necessarily knowing the plot. Scary Tales was the house that had the witch flying overhead at the facade, Wizard of Oz, Hansel & Gretel, The Three Pigs, Red Riding Hood, Miss Muffet, Humpty Dumpty, Rapunzel, and Little Mermaid.

So they gave you a printed (scannable) Express pass? Was it one time per house, or some sort of unlimited use? Yes, I got the same survey. Was very surprised to see several B&T related questions. Crossing every appendage they are able to bring it back in some way. As great as the HOTC facade was, the only thing I kept staring at was that phone booth.... Wanted to climb in it and dial *69

The other being Depths of Fear. We were told that on the tour - that we were crushed by the station imploding, but that really didn't come across in the house as clearly as it did in GG. Was there an effect after the monster in the fog at the end that I missed?

I asked during my UTH tour and the answer was a definitive YES. You die at the end. They worked very hard to make that black hallway soundproof, so the only things you heard were the whispers of the dead calling to you. I don't think that's a spoiler for anyone. This house is right up there with Poltergeist as GOAT. So funny, because I didn't expect either to be all that good before I went in. Usually I go through houses with a big grin on my face. But for these, my mouth was hanging open from start to finish. Was so blown away by the visuals and storytelling. After that, the big stupid grin appeared every walkthru.