Oysterhead00

Hateful 8 house. Or generic Sinful 7 or Naughty 9. Just kidding. A western house would be really cool. And it would be guaranteed to have the dead Nightingales horse in it. Walk through a room of hanged dummies with one real person hidden in there with a complex safety rig to appear like he's hanging from a neuse (no clue on spelling) too for an epic scare. Hopefully it's not a Bone Tomahawk house...though seeing people with fake Kurt Russell facial hair could be hillarious.

I recently saw it as well. A snowy foggy facade would be great, but then there were no real icon sets for the rest of the movie (the very last scene in the movie would be one...but not even hinting at spoiling it)....however, I agree, some of the most terrifying creatures ever. The movie wasn't as funny as most people, myself included, assumed it to be. Before I just assumed it would be a house, now I'm truly HOPING it is one.

I'm resigned to a TWD every year as long as it's popular. I mean, ballpark math says that 10 million people watch each episode. Lets say the average price for a movie ticket is $10 (that's on the low side, but easy for math). If all the people who watch one episode were to go to a TWD movie that would be $100M. Dracula, Dead Silence, any one of the Saw movies, any Freddy, and Jason, any TCM, etc hasn't made that much in it's lifetime. I know, I know, inflation and bla bla bla. But still, it's a no brainer. Especially compared to something like Trick R Treat that to my knowledge was never even released theatrically. I look at it like some people look at the "photo op" scare zone. Might not be my favorite, but I love the show and it's just eye candy to walk through and see how they recreated the sets from the show and what "signature" zombies they have. Easter egg hunting is fun too. Since the Icons seem to be going away...or just being recycled with no real back story, I'd love to see the event start to have some themed years. Something like "HHN30: 80's Slashers" where the IPs would be stuff like Freddy and Jason or whatever. But then the originals would be similarly themed with props and costumes from the 80s. The scare zones would be all 80s themed like undead rollerskating chicks with teased hair, legwarmers, and sweatbands and 80s music blasting through the park and in houses. Whatever, just something that tied it all together by theme where they could mix in both IPs and Originals that would at least be thematically linked. Have a Supernatural themed year with Paranormal Activity and Poltergeist, a Space Horror year with Aliens, A Big Top Year with Killer Klowns and Circus Freaks, etc. Of course, the IPs I listed were almost all already done, but just to give an idea of what I'm thinking.

If they do a Chainsaw house I hope it's with the real chainsaws. I could see them putting it in a sound stage to build a full facade of the house from the movies and stuff....and then having non-operating chainsaws with the foot pedals for the various Leatherface scaractors to trigger the chainsaw sound instead of generating them with real chainsaws That would be disappointing since the sounds never seem to synch up directly with what the scaractor is doing (sometimes it does, the more complex ones don't) so you'd have a chainsaw sound with the chainsaw by the scaractors side....or them swinging the chainsaw around with no sound.

Yes, we know, you hate everything. IPs are always going to be here and I, for one, usually love them. Why? Here's a movie description: "In the old west, a bunch of stranger get stuck in a blizzard and have to hole up in a cabin." Sounds like a stupid and boring movie. But tell me that Quinten Tarrantino directed it and suddenly it's very intriguing and worth my money. QT is the IP there. On his name alone, that story sounds INFINITELY better, more interesting, and worth my time and money. By the same token, "Come out to Universal Stuidos for all original haunted houses!" sounds boring. But if you tell me you're going to Freddy and Jason, that's something I can relate to. That's something that draws people. That's something Joe from Idaho, on a trip to Florida, will buy a ticket to on impulse where as "all original houses featuring clowns, children, ghosts, vampires, lunatics and murders" sounds lame and not something you're going to be interested in. At this point, an all original year would sound like "it's going to suck, uni is tightening the purse strings and couldn't even pursue IPs to have...this year is gonna suck!" Now...I get it, you like original content. But Universal Studios is, well, a movie studio. Their themepark is based on...well, movies. The fact that we get any originals is pretty damn special. And you REALLY sound like someone who likes a local band, complains that they don't get enough recognition, but when they DO get that recognition and become a national band, accuse them of selling out and hate them. It gets old quick.

1. Hellgate Prison. Would have to be a hard R rated house from back in the day 2. Disentorium. Notice a theme? My first two houses are from the first year I came and it just blew my mind. Sure I have some "first time syndrome" but these were the two best houses ever in my book. I got so disoriented in this house I had to close my eyes and grab onto my friend's shirt to get out of there. 3. Dead Exposure. LOVED IT. Strobes always mess with me. Need a true spiritual successor to it. 4. BRAIN FART - The Beyond? Whatever the 3D house was that was just awesome and everybody here hated. Loved that house. 5. Frightanic. Never experienced the original and want to see something like it. More than just a one room tribute.

1000000% wishful thinking, as this topic is titled, but one thing I've always wanted was an outdoor "house". Hear me out.... Not talking a chainlink fence maze like they had the one year, but a full "house" outdoors. Walls set up with some props (basically lacquered to hell to "waterproof" them), but all lighting would have to be from light stands above or something for safety/fire/electrocution reasons. It could go in a parking lot or whatever. But something where it wouldn't be a complete conga line as it would be wider. It would really just be a semi-contained, wide open, pulsed (in terms of a line to get in) scare zone. It would be in an area that didn't have parade limitations. They have a friggen tank thrown somewhere in storage (I presume) and the big unamog truck and stuff....you could make one hell of a post apocalyptic area. It would have walls in parts (no roof), with stuff like a tank crashed through it...and then courtyards or whatever where you have to wander through a scare zone type area to continue on, etc. Add in walls/props/whatever on wheels that could be moved to disorient. Flamethrower towers. Whatever. Outside, not enclosed, so the safety regulations would be much more lax. For safety, have all kinds of "escape routes" where the conga hearders can stand with their flashlights keeping you from entering, but allowing alleys of regress in case of emergency. Could have all kinds of physical obstacles to overcome due to the open space to have an ADA alternate route for the patrons unable to navigate the obstacles. It would be something different, not requiring an enclosed space, would have a really interesting lighting setup with overhead lighting and tons of fog, etc. With all the construction, it could be a good time to try something like this...just imagine a scare zone with a house budget and production value. Could be epic. OK, commence critically analyzing my post in 3...2....1....

Me too, especially if they picked "key scenes" like those from Call of Duty to make the video game people happy. That ferriswheel is freaky as hell. And the empty schools with debris all over the place are truely terrifying.

Opinions are like @$$holes. Everybody has one, and everybody else thinks they stink. Chill out, it's WISHFUL thinking. We aren't even to the speculation point yet. The IPs are what bring people in, so why is it shocking that people are focusing on them? We always have like half IPs, so why are you surprised that people are speculating on them? It's hard to anticipate something completely original and unknown, so if you're trying to be accurate it would make sense to focus on IPs that you MIGHT get right. Regarding horrific IPs, some people find Blair Witch scary...it's just a shakey cam running through the woods so one person's horrific will be another's boring (for the record, I'm on the boring side there). I know you're trying to live up to your name and be critical of everything...but calm down. There are still 4 months until Dr Jimmy's tongue in cheek April Fool's escapade that always has some truth hidden in it and kicks off the true speculation.

I think we will...eventually. I think they respect the movie too much to do "Karnival Klowns from Outer Space" or some knockoff, they want to do the real deal. I keep hearing about the Chiodo Brothers doing a sequel...so there's hope if they can get that off the ground that Uni would be all over it. EDIT: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1979370/

Ha ha ha, thanks for appreciating my ridiculous sense of humor brought on by boredom on a conference call at work (and not taking my political house as a provocation against either side of the isle) Glad nobody took it too seriously...thought I'd probably relocate to Florida for 6 weeks if my ramblings actually came to fruition. I'll actually give some thought to a legit speculation lineup and post it in the near future.

No real thought put into this...just me thinking of crazy crap and typing it up. I did order it from "likely" to "possible" to "ridiculous" so they get more absurd as you go along. Didn't see many horror movies this year at all so short on recent movies. The Walking Dead - Not really on my wish list, but going on my list since it’s pretty much set in stone. This past season had some cool set pieces that could make the house at least look interesting. Ash vs Evil Dead - Because Ash is awesome. ‘Nuff said. (Too bad it couldn’t be Ash vs Walking Dead and it’s just him chainsawing up zombies and no stand alone TWD house.) Killer Klowns from Outer Space - This will be on my wishlist forever. Though bringing back the HHN parade and having it just be clowns with big hanging/swinging/screaming cotton candy sacks and popcorn and confetti guns shooting the crowd would just be amazing. Krampus - Didn’t see the movie, but sure looked like a great house from the previews…plus I always LOVE the winter houses. Krampuses....or Krampusi? Or Krampuses? Whatever, multiples walking around on stilts. Lumberjacked - Just big bearded hillbillies that work for a logging company with HUGE fake trees inside. Like a full room with a giant stump in it that you have to walk around…with some kind of mirror/matte painting gag on the ceiling to make it look like it’s 300 feet tall. A room that you walk on a rickety bridge type thing that looks like it’s 300’ up in the air. Just lots of dismembered plaid limbs all over the place. The big, burly, bearded scare actors always seem to get the most…so just making up some nonsense to put them all in a house instead of roaming the streets. CSDT will be outside the exit dressed as lumberjacks and continuing the mayhem in the street. Scary Movie / Stabbed - Comedy house. Just to screw with Scream pulling the carpet out from under A&D last year, have them just parody the hell out of the franchise in ridiculous/stupid/over the top fashion. The last room of the house has a killer scene that every 5 min someone dressed as a staff member with a clipboard and everything comes out and says, "Dementia Pictures pulled the plug on the house, sorry, we're shutting it down" and the scaractors sulk away. Maybe have some rooms have an area covered with a big boxed off area with "removed due to litigation by Dementia pictures". Mythbusters: Murphy's Law- Show is ending and Adam and Jamie (plus Keri, Torrey, and Grant) are such recognized figures you would just need a guy with a bald cap and walrus mustache to play Jaimie, goateed redhead to play Adam, etc. Have them setting up a crazy experiment in one room, followed by the aftermath of it going HORRIBLY wrong in the next. Like unleashing hell, lazering the cast in half, drowning, whatever. My favorite show of all time so including it to see if it gives anybody a chuckle. Hell to the Chief! - A parody house of a presidential candidate with horrible hair that does all kinds of crazy crap resulting in him dying a horrible death. Like his hair getting caught in a helicopters rotor and chopping him up. And his adversary, a crazy bitch who gets in just as much trouble. Then they duke it out in ridiculous fashion and one comes out the winner at the end ala Freddy vs Jason. Tool in 3D - This is obviously 1000% impossible, but it’s on my list. Tool music blasting, with someone in a Sober video costume jerking around in a strobe lit room, and 3D eyes painted all over the walls. Contortionists. Menacing bald guy, painted blue, just out of site due to lighting. Not "living the songs", just throwing all the imagery associated with the band into a house and blasting their music. Would just be awesome. And of course.... Hellgate Prison Unleashed - The ever rumored upcharge house. Rated a hard R and you have to have a 21+ wristband on to get in. Just balls to the wall insane house with gore, cursing, nudity (on dead "props", not real scaractors), everything. Largest house ever because huge portions of it are "constructed" outside. Like a full scale prison riot in a wide open prison yard and you have to walk through it without any guides or anything. Have "plants" in the line that get grabbed and killed by the inmates. Every 3 min they pulse the line there....so that you never know where your conga line is heading. CRAZY amount of fog machines (aka tear gas). Scareactors purposely block the line to break it up. At the beginning of the line there is some exclusive premium drink stand that serves different beverages than in the event proper. Plus this area of the park has it's own all over scare zone...aka inmates that broke out all over the place. Just break all the rules and have it be as crazy as can be.

I did the tours the same day so mine were the same (though was in a different group). I think that Insidious is probably now a permanent part of the dual tours and unless they have a house unavailable that they substitute Run for that this is pretty solid. The afternoon tour is MUCH better if you're only doing one...but they have to have the "back of the park ones" in the morning since they get quite warm. Then again, maybe the AM and PM only tours use a completely different lineup. That's possible to even them out as my tour was a full self contained group that stuck together with a 40min lunch break. That's a loooooong way of saying that if you're only doing one tour, find someone else who only did one and see what their list was. Also, just an interesting tidbit, the other two times I did UTH tours there were only 2 groups that went on each tour with 2 guides each. This year, we had a single guide and there were at least 4 groups there (I was in the second group to leave...but the room we were in was still at least half full when left). They also said "Every tour has been completely sold out", but my friend bought a ticket the day before without any problem other than not being on sign-in sheet and needing to have them verify his ticket. They asked if he was with anybody and they made sure he got stuck in my group which was really nice of them.

This is the spoiler free 15min review. I'll write a longer spoiler filled one later. Houses American Werewolf in London - 7/10 I didn't go to HHN23 so this was my first time through this maze. At first it didn't live up to my expectations about hearing how amazing it was the past two years, but it grew on me and I really enjoyed it. In some of the weaker years, this would have easily been my favorite.Asylum in Wonderland 3D - 8/10 What can I say? I LOVE the 3D houses. It seemed a little like "just throw stuff at the house and see what sticks" due to the lack of a backstory fleshed out through an interactive webpage, but when it was explained on the UTH tour, it made it even better for me.Body Collectors - 9/10 Gorgeous house, great sight gags, and really good scares.Freddy vs Jason - 9/10 DAMN those Jason's were huge! The casting call was for people 6'7" and taller. The shortest Jason was 6'3". That's from the tour. The Jason part was better for scares, but the Freddy "iconic kills" section was amazing. Loved this house! If the FvJ part was done better and I didn't miss the "winner" at the end a few times, I might have given it a 10.Insidious - 8/10 Didn't watch any of the movies and haunting movies aren't my thing (though I'm curious now after it was explained to us what the movie was about). Had some great scares and some truely creepy rooms. If I was a fan of the movies, I probably would have rated it higher.Jack: 25 Years - 10/10 Can't say anything that hasn't been said before. HUGE house, tons of scares, and just amazing sets. The "Best of" aspect wasn't as jarring as I thought about going from room to room. Just amazing.Purge - 5/10 It was loud and I loved the costumes that were already used in the Scare Zones...but it was just weak as would be expected given the last second nature of the switch. Was more interesting to look for all the scream scenes than to go through the house. Loud...but not in a good way. Though the bed scene was probably the most brutal thing I've ever seen at HHN (and bumps up my grad a full point)Run - 6/10 Much like Purge, just nothing memorable. Forgot the house the second I left it and really can't think of much to elaborate on it in my forthcoming longer review.The Walking Dead - 5/10 I LOVE the show and have been a defender of past houses...but this was just weak as hell. The facade was non-existant, but the first "kill" in the house was awesome and brutal. The zombies in the water was laughably bad...and the truck gag was a recycled craptactular job.Shows Jack - 10/10 I LOVED IT. It was really only the second Icon show I ever saw (Terra Queen was the first) and the stage was huge, the pyro was great, music was great, violent as hell, some cursing, it was just awesome.Bill & Ted - 5/10 Giving the performers a 5/5 for the singing, dancing, and energy...they were great. Giving the show content a 0/5 because it was weak. Maybe it's because I'm in my 40s and I just don't get most of the references, but it just seemed so lazy and not coherent. Like they just went from gag to gag with no plot. I know, that sounds really stupid to say. But it's like how Scary Movie 3 is stupid but hilarious and the dime a dozen imitations from the same time sucked even though they were lampooning the same thing. You need SOMETHING to tie it together and it just didn't happen for me. Felt like it had ADD this year.Zones - 6/10. Nothing really stood out to me. Just seemed like they were all recycled from past years, with maybe a little twist. I enjoyed them, but not nearly as much in many of the past years. Lumping them all in together. Central Park had great ambiance as usual, but seemed like even fewer scares than usual. The Icons zone had some cool sets, but even taking a bunch of pictures and exposing myself to be scared pretty easily I think I only got one decent scare in there.

Compared to the other pictures, these suck...but what the hell, sharing them anyway. There are a few decent ones in there OK, still trying to figure this Flickr linking thing out... https://www.flickr.com/photos/132902777@N08/albums/72157659142598069

OK, just got home today and am too tired to type much up, but here are some photo albums from the tours. Did both the AM and PM ones and we were one of the first groups to see Insidious. The reason it wasn't on the tour earlier was it was too dark, they built the walls and stuff up in the house higher than usual and there wasn't enough light to do lights on tours...but they added more later. BTW - SPOILERS ABOUND! 25 Years of Mayhem Freddy vs Jason Insidious Asylum in Wonderland 3D Body Collectors The Walking Dead We also were allowed in the back door of AWIL to get a quick selfie with the last wolf in the house which was really cool. So Run and The Purge were the only houses not included at all on our dual tours. EDIT: A couple things to mention if you do the dual tours. My whole group, 15 people, were doing both tours. We were with the tour guide for 7 hours with a ~40min lunch break in Springfield. Also, I bought the premium lanyard the first day there thinking we'd get two generic ones on the tours (based on past experiences when I've either done AM or PM tours, but never both)...but the combo tour apparently gets the awesome Jack "premium" lanyard. So if you plan on doing both tours, you might want to hold off on buying that.

Read the Plans of Attack thread...I think all the info you need is in there like this from foREVer56: It was reported by a few people who called Guest Relations at Universal. If you call and ask, that's what they've been telling people. There's a chance that will only be in affect the first 2 weekends, as KidZone is the Annual Passholder Event area. Then I think others go into details about what houses open when...what houses to avoid when it's still light out...etc.

OK, I have no sources this is just from other forums and social media. The UTH tours are actually changing somewhat from day to day and the only one that won't be part of any tour is The Purge which makes sense. Also, it sounds like Run and TWD are always on the AM tour meaning most people who are trying to pick a tour, the afternoon tour would certainly be your best bet. I'm doing both and I love TWD show and enjoyed the tour MORE than the house last year as I loved seeing the sets so I don't have a horse in this race...so long as M&M and BC are covered Also, someone said their tour guide said there was a possibility of a house being repeated in both the AM and PM tours in a day. Now THAT would piss me off and I'd feel entitled to a $23.33 refund!

OK, I'll be the drunk who asks...are these refill cups for adult beverages also?

I'm VERY happy by that list! I have no real interest in seeing the Insidious movies, but EVERYBODY says it's so amazing so kinda hoping I get to see it with the lights on...but not sure which house I'd pick to replace. Maybe Run...but the picture of the sign has me thinking it's more than just chainlink fences and something worth taking pictures of. I'm avoiding MOST spoiler tags and the house and SZ forums. Not the 3D house! I need pictures to look at with my 3D glasses when I get home! (Poking fun at myself since I LOVE the 3D houses...that most people hate).

Allow me to dig out my old soapbox from back at the Vault and probably the early year(s) of this site...and my comment I basically add to every survey. Why don't you release a DVD of a walkthrough of every house...possibly even with the lights on, but a group of people going through and all the scareactors doing their job. I know, lights on would spoil some of the scares, but it would be something they'd be able to try and if it sucked, scrap the idea. Hell, do two runthroughs. Also, you could do the BTS tours with real guides and a real select group of people...even have scripted questions for them to ask. And just film it. Then edit it down and sell the DVDs. Possible problems would be rights issues...but I'm sure they can be overcome much like putting all the movie logos on the shirts and stuff. Then, the BIG problem, would be that they get (random math here) 20 people per BTS tour, 2 tours per day, lets just say an average of $60 per person per tour. That's $2,400 a day revenue just from the tours and you'd have to ensure the DVD sells more copies than the fall off of people who say "I can buy the tour of all 9 houses for $30 on DVD, why would I pay $120 to see 6 houses?" That wouldn't affect people like me who love the exploration and photo opportunities and would happily still pay for both. Plus the tours seem to sell out every time, I would think any fall off due to the DVDs would be filled by others. Some solutions I regularly suggest are to have the DVDs be expensive like $30...and then offer them for $10 to those that do the tour or something. Or, do the filming prior to the event (Obviously I see the challenges in that for the live walkthrough... not so much for the BTS tour. Well, unless Scream fiasco happens again) and sell the DVDs on site only. Limit one per person (scanning tickets or something) to ensure that everybody that bought them, actually attended the event so as not to have the worry about someone thinking "I'm skipping a year because I can just buy it on DVD!"

In the past there's been the premium lanyard (Jack ththe year, TWD last year), another cheaper black boring HHN one that's a couple bucks cheaper, and the other one that you get with some package deals and the UTH tours (was red last year...got it previous years with ticket bundles). The premium is always thicker and softer...The other tow are always narrower and rougher.

Awesome! Would have preferred what they had for XX, but this is a great compromise

I was sooooooooooooooo hoping for a return to the $10 upcharge VIP thing they had at XX. That was amazing with the history of the event and scareactors just passing trough now and then. Thought for sure they'd have it for 25...but obviously not. But maybe we'll get some kind of free "museum" type thing that includes the Crimson Peak stuff as an exhibit. EDIT: After thinking about it for a couple minutes, that wasn't a ticketed event. You just had to show up that day (I think) and buy a wristband to come back later. So I guess I can still hold out hope that it returns

I'll echo what Cooger said, they are VERY knowledgeable. I think it's mostly a cheat sheet they memorize, but if you ask a question they don't know about, they'll do their best to hunt it down. Like after you're done touring a house, they'll say "wait here a minute" and go grab someone else in there to ask them about it (they did that for us when I think someone asked what scale the models were for the mirror affect in Gothic...the electrician didn't know either. Ha ha ha). They also give some scripted answers to questions Uni doesn't want asked like "What was the deal with Fear?" and "What happened to the Bayou Sacrifice Show?". The Bayou answer was along the lines of "We are constantly trying to enhance the guest experience...who came the last week last year? Did you know that was the only week that there was a scarezone in Sting Alley? We regularly re-distribute our characters based on feedback from the public." They go through room by room, do little trivia questions, point out boo holes and tricks, point out fun stuff like Freddy's sweater laying around, last year they were pointing out the hidden crows, they often tell you about what parts of the house have been broken or valdalized (Dead End had a headless ghost when we went as her head had fallen off and disappeared), etc. They aren't insiders working on the development all year long so as long as you don't expect Mike Aiello to do your tour and tell you all the legal details of what happened with Scream, you'll love it. They're very funny and personable and happy to take a picture of you and/or your group in front of a prop.