MoonKnight

I ate at finnegans during the stay and scream a few weeks back. If you are getting a drink they were making people get their drink and leave but if you eat you can stay. There are the usual pop up bars. I'm not a drinker so I wasn't paying attention to other places to get drinks. You can also go to Springfield for s&as there's a duff something bar that wasn't crowded at all when I was there and plenty of seating outdoors and they were letting people inside the food court for some air conditioned seating as well. If you do Springfield you get early access to Blumhouse and Hive and should be ready for scarecrow when everything else opens. Finnegans early house I think was shining or dead waters can't remember for sure. But I want to say there was only one house for early access with finnegans.

This year was the first year I had done the tour and I would absolutely recommend doing the tour. I did the 6 house tour, my only complaint is you couldn't pick the houses you tour. Other than that if you hang back in the group you can get quick pictures of anything you want. My group was about 12 people so not too big, but one tour guide can't watch everyone the whole time the tour guides answered any question you asked. Things he couldn't answer he'd give a winking answer. My tour guide would say no photos of this or that and then walk to another room of the house so you've got a chance to snap some pics if you're sneaky. My guide also said he was doing the houses in the order he prefers so we do more walking up front and then come back for a break and do the last three that are closer. So we started with Blumhouse, then Hive, then dead waters. Then a break then fallen, shining, and ahs. The 6 house tour starts at 11 am and we were done around 4-415. The guide said there's no point doing saw or scarecrow because there isn't enough to discuss or show on a tour. Didn't give a reason why we didn't do AvED. I would think AvED would've been better than Hive to tour but that's just me. I'm pretty sure my guide was named David and he was great if I ever get to do a tour again I would ask for him specifically he definitely didn't ruin my day. David said he's been every year since the beginning starting as a guest and now as a guide and he had an encyclopedic knowledge of the event, horror movies, and a great sense of humor.

I did the 6 house tour and the guide told us that scarecrow was too dark to tour even with the lights on and didn't want to ruin the crow room, didn't give a reason for not touring AvED and said Saw was not included because there is notthing to discuss during a tour to make it worth putting on the list. The guide said they usually pick houses that will be popular or have lots of interesting features, and my guide said Saw had neither of those going for it. But he did tells us where the gats were.

Did the unmasking tour this weekend (just got back home today, hope to do a full event review) the guide said the house is set in the 80s but the vampires took over the house in the 70s and have never made it to Home Depot to remodel or repair

I think I got a lot of that stuff from Supernatural, I stopped watching a couple years ago after the 3rd or 4th time one of the Winchesters died and the other one brought him back. Definitely remember seeing the interpretation of fallen angels as demons but can't remember exactly where

I agree with wesker it's cheap and easy, has brand recognition, and universal doesn't have to worry about rights problems. It has a history of being their go to replacement. With scream, and ouija, and might have been a replacement for something else that was supposed to go in that area this year. Like someone else said if they have the light up masks and light up car most people will think it's new enough and it fits in that area in the city landscape

I am going 9/29, 9/30, and 10/1 I'll be bringing my niece who is 15 this is going to be her Sweet 16 present. We will both have ffp with express. We fly in on the 9/29 arrive at 8:45 might not make it to the park until 1030 or 11. I'm not a drinker and my niece can't yet. And I am thinking of doing a tour on 10/1 but I'm afraid my niece will burned out by then this will be the third haunted attraction she's ever attended. Plan on doing stay and scream on 9/30 and 10/1.

SCARESZONES 1. Invasion! I'm excited for something different I know that this isn't the ideal location for a zone but I'm looking forward to something different 2. Purge. I've never done a Purge scarezone and think this is the best way to represent this property. I enjoy the movies also 3. Trick R Treat. I watched the movie a long time ago and don't remember being super impressed by it but still excited to see how it looks 4. Festival of the Deadliest. dont know what this zone will be like and that is exciting for me haven't seen any pictures yet 5. Altars of Horror. Remember this from HHN 25 and wasn't impressed and always seemed to have bad timing or no patience to just sit and wait HOUSES 1. Dead Waters. Think there could be a variety of environments and characters 2. Scarecrow the Reaping. Classic Halloween trope should be good makes me think of one of my favorite episodes of Tales from the Crypt 3. The Fallen. Not really sure what to expect, but could be wind up depending on where creative goes with the concept. I'm afraid the subject matter might have made Uni tone down some of the story elements in fear of religious backlash 4. The Shining. Simply excited to see how it will visually represented 5. AHS. Roanoke was a great season for scares and gore , coven not so much, and asylum should be good as well. I watch the show and it seems like it hits it peak around episode 4 or 5 and then limps to the finish hoepfully this house won't 6. Hive. Happy it's feral vampires 7. Ash vs Evil Dead. Don't watch the show, and not a huge of the movies 8. Horrors of Blumhouse. The name bothers me way more than it should, why not Blumhouse of Horrors??!! Like the Purge movies, the first Sinister, and the conjouring movies not sure how this house will flow or work. Wish they had made a house with only supernatural elements and left Purge to the streets 9. Saw. Think this will be like walking through a torture museum not scary to me just watching other people scream and beg for help

There was a movie a while back think it was called Legion about angels descending on a diner to kill a waitress because they believed her baby was the antichrist or something like that and one angel played by Paul Bettany protected her. There were other demons and creatures that also tried to get to the baby. But I can't think of too many other movies that feature avenging angels and that's what I think this house will be. Otherwise if they are truly "fallen" angels shouldn't their wings be removed and just have nubs? Or did I just make that rule up?

Do they ever make shirts that aren't black? They all look the same after a while. Whenever I wear one of the shirts I've got at HHN people either know what it is (very few people here NOLA) or think it's a Slipknot tshirt especially the one from 25.

Couldn't agree more I think not having an icon is a missed opportunity. There's a focal point instead of just a billboard with movie names on it. The icon can peak people's interest and drive people to the website, instead when UNI relies on IPs they have to constantly find 3 or 4 big name marquee IPs every year to market and drive sales instead of putting energy into an icon. Of course some people will go no matter what IPs or icon the event has.

I think the scarezones sound good. Not sure I like the Altars of Horror because like someone else said seems like a waste to have characters from the houses on the street also seems like an unimaginative way to fill up a scarezone but I'm willing to hold judgment. Invasion! has a lot of potential, so does Festival of the Deadliest which if it turns out to be a scarezone full of different cultures ideas of the undead should be interesting, hoping it's not a cheap ripoff of Dia de las muertes. TrickRTreat could be good and I might be one of the few or only people looking forward to the Purge scarezone if nothing else if it's scarezone it won't be a house and works best as a scarezone. Still waiting for houses though

Agree 100% that it's the best single haunt I've been to as well. For one building they cram a ton of stuff in that building and the variety is what always impresses me.

My favorite wasn't at HHN but at a local haunt the 13th Gate. Me and my wife were walking through one part that was like a TCM meets Cajun hillbilly section. One of the scareactors an older woman with a blood stained moo moo and curlers in her hair approached me and said "ooohhh hello there big boy, you know I like my men like I like my coffee...." To which my wife said "black and strong?" And the scareactor replied "NO, ground up and in the freezer!!!" She then pulled out a meat tenderizer mallet and chased us. My wife took off and the only reason I caught up to her was she got stuck behind the group that was in front of us otherwise she would've probably ran all the way to the car

Made me think of the clowns with chainsaws from 2015. I'm tired of chainsaws because there is NO subtlety it's just scareactors (pick a theme clowns, prisoners, geishas, etc) making noise and chasing people. If people stopped and thought they'd realize there is no chain and the more scared you act the more the chainsaws focus on you. I prefer a slow build to my horror movies, a chainsaw seems like a poor choice to sneak up on someone also