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Oysterhead00

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Everything posted by Oysterhead00

  1. I know we still don't have all the houses announced, but think it's time to start up this annual tread.... Scare Zones Invasion! Just dying to see this one. Had the potential to be an all time favorite BEFORE seeing the UFO. Anticipation is at an all time high on this one. Alters of Horror. Love the photo op zones and the idea of being able to look at characters from the houses for more than a split second in better lighting is just awesome. Festival of the Deadliest. Hope this is better than it's name. Name just drives me nuts. The Purge. I don't mind this returning at all. Trick R' Treat. Love the movie, but just think this will be a generic Halloween type zone. HOPE they don't have Sam with his sack/mask off. Seeing what he looked like was the biggest disappointment with the movie in my opinion. If they have the bus kids in water logged outfits and masks this will move up my list pretty quickly. Was disappointed they didn't put the old school bus in the zone and add water damage (though it's a bit big to fit in there). Roaming Horde. Don't enjoy going through these all that much (don't really get any scares, hence it's low ranking)...but LOVE to people watch wherever they are. The scares they give some people are just a joy to behold. Houses Ash vs Evil Dead. Was on the fence about going this year due to "real life" stuff, but this house almost single handedly changed my mind. American Horror Story. Only watched 3/4 of one season and really couldn't get into it, but LOVED last year's house so this is way up there! Scarecrows. Everything about this just sounds awesome. The Fallen. If this was the rumored Gothic vs Catacombs...just the fact that it kinda reminded people of those two houses makes me really interested to see what happens with this. This and Scarecrows are really tied for 3rd. The Shining. The fact that it has no monsters or masks makes me worry about how the scareactors will look and could pull me out. Could EASILY be my #1 by the end of the event since it's an A&D Unicorn I think they're going to pull out all the stops. Saw. I enjoy the movies and like seeing the traps recreated. Hive. Vampires just don't do it for me. The cast and props could make all the difference in the world. Dead Waters. Not a big fan of Voodoo stuff (other than Serpant and the Rainbow)...but the steamboat could rocket it up my list based on how it pulls it off. Blumhouse. I'm not a fan of the PG-13 ghost horror so this really does nothing for me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Update after first weekend non-spoiler reviews (I'm not going until the 3rd weekend). Houses Ash vs Evil Dead - Since it's back in the corner by itself and doesn't feed anywhere else, I hope to do this multiple times every night Scarecrows - Just sounds awesome Dead Waters - Still don't care for voodoo stuff, but just sounds awesome AHS - The 2 originals jumped it just based on people gushing about them and not giving glowing reviews of AHS The Shining - Sounds better than I anticipated...but worse than many others expected The Fallen - Doesn't sound like the house they announced Hive - The enthusiastic cast bumps it above Saw Saw - LOVED the first house for the traps, but agreed it was horrible for scares. Sounds like more of the same and a "been there, done that" type thing. Blumhouse - Really don't care Zones Trick R Treat - Movie isn't the greatest thing in history in my book, but damn it looks beautiful at night! Alters of Horror - I hate selfies (mostly because I look like an idiot in pics) but love the photo op zones. The Purge - The event always has this kind of generic zone...the fact that they seem content to keep skinning the zone with Purge character is fine by me. I'll spend a lot of time here. Invasion! - Just sounds like a boring disappointment I had such high hopes for this zone. Roaming Horde - Always entertaining to people watch. Festival of the Deadliest - Sounds like it's living down to it's name.
  2. Fortune 20 company if this is a dick measuring contest. And if you delivered the results that HHN has, you would NOT be lambasted. You'd be given a big fat bonus.
  3. Be careful not to feed my ego....I'm just some idiot who works in Marketing trying to defend the Marketing Team from people continually crapping on them Officially stream? I don't think so. But there is usually someone persiscoping it or something. They usually post the links at sites like this.
  4. This is an event for EVERYBODY. Not just you, me, and the thousand or so people on these forum who pour over the details and anazyle every tweet and every frame of video released. It's for thousands and thousands of people who attend, many for one night, who come in with no understanding of the crazy backstories for the event. What do you think is more rewarding to them? Something they are familiar with and can "live the movie" as is the point of a movie-based themepark, or something awesome but that is really hard to figure out. Why does this house have cowboys and ghosts? Why are Penn and Teller nuked? Why does this building have lots of water and Nine Inch Nails blasting? I thought this was supposed to be an Alice in Wonderland house, why are we in an asylum? Why are there monster nurses in a war? Etc. If you go in knowing the back story, sure, the originals are fun...but EVERYBODY knows the backstories from the movies. Look at in reverse, if you had never seen a Saw movie, the previous house (and I'm assuming this year's house) would make zero sense. What the hell is that thing on that lady's head? Why is there a puppet on a tricycle? Why did this idiot crawl into a room full of barbed wire? Ash vs Evil Dead is the same thing....why doesn't this guy have hand? Why would a chainsaw and a shotgun be his choices of weapons, that's stupid! (you'd have to have watched the show or movies to understand that Ash being a moron is part of the story and the charm...without context it looks stupid) What the hell is up with this puppet? How is a puppet scary? etc, etc, etc (don't want to spoil anything from the series, but you get my point). A known property enhances the experience for most people. There are obviously exceptions, but it's certainly true. A house that takes 3 minutes to walk through has exactly 3 minutes of context for you to figure it out unless you pour over the website, tweets, forums, etc, etc, etc. Maybe you have a one paragraph synopsis if you read the blog. A movie-based house has at least 90min worth of context before you even walk through the door so you go in understanding the storyline and get to live it. A movie themepark with almost NOTHING original in it (is there anything original in the park now other than Rip Rocket? Dueling Dragons is closing and also somehow considered Potter-related now, everything is IP based) has a seasonal event...it SHOULD be movie based. It would be like Sea World having an event based on lions and tigers or Disney World having an event with Looneytoons characters. This isn't settling, it's evolving. It's living up to the (perceived) mission statement of a Movie Theme Park that has active TV studios on property. It's a success story that the event is so well respected in the industry that people who are VERY protective of their IPs are willing to let a theme park take over their babies and create a fluid and evolving experience.
  5. Someone always starts this thread each year, so might as well be me Anybody have any insight as to what the tours are going to be (I know it's early for that, haven't even announced all the houses yet) and more importantly, if the "photos in originals only" policy is in affect again? The site says "select houses"...but also says you will tour "select houses". So it's still kinda a gray area. Also, the rumor was AHS caused the picture policy issues last year, so maybe something along the lines of "every house but this one...." might be in affect. The UTH tour is always the highlight of my trip, but mostly for the photo ops. Might pass on it for the first time in forever if they are still greatly restricting the photography options.
  6. Do they open? Can a scaractor stand behind them? Can a "plant" walking through go up and mess with a door and have a scareactor open it, grab them, and pull them through? I understand the doors in a traditional trick or treat house since as a kid that's all you care about, every door you can knock on to get candy. But there has to be something for scares.
  7. If that's the house shirt with the back showing all the houses, that would be pretty awesome...if only because it doesn't have the stupid blood letters. I'd never buy it, but appreciate the look and art involved. It would certainly make for an awesome tattoo.
  8. You're usually "in the know"....really hope there's some kind of archway with fog jets that they project on to. The piece of concept art looks like something you could conceivably walk through....but the logistics of that (ADA issues with the stairs, bottle neck, trampling hazard, twisted broken ankles by drunks like me, etc) make it unlikely. But that would be so bad ass!
  9. It worked just fine...made it the best event in the country....so why not rest on their laurels? They should have kept it 5 houses, why bother increasing them? Should have kept it a few nights in late October, why bother to extend the event? People show up on the weekends, why extend it to weeknights? We are very successful in the sedan and coupe market, why would Pontiac expand to trucks and SUVs? Their cars are the new hotness...bigger is better, why make a more economic and fuel efficient Hummer? Everybody on Wall St owns a PDA, why would Palm develop a smart phone or tablet? Everybody loves the mini keyboard, why would Blackberry develop a touchscreen when people are happy with the buttons? People love brick and mortar stores, they'll never buy stuff like clothes without trying them on or Refridgerators without physically touching it first....why would KMart, Sears, JC Penny, Macy's, Circuit City, Lechmeres, etc, etc, etc change and embrace new shopping models and the internet when they have successful anchor stores at every mall in every town in the country? Times change, the public changes, what people are willing to spend their money on changes. If the public hated IPs and just wanted originals, they'd all go to Howl O' Scream (yes, that's a gross exaggeration but you get the point). The trend now, and for the foreseeable future, is that people are comfortable with what they know and are proving it with their wallets. The crowds at XIV where nothing compared to what they are now...the number of people who come on a MUCH extended run is insane. There's a reason they do the user surveys every year...and it's not to hear the 1% paying customers who are super fans like us on these sites. It's to see what people want to see at the event and what they are willing to spend their hard earned dollars to attend. There's also a question about what they think of the website and if they found the info they wanted in a timely manner and all that jazz. ALL the stuff everybody complains about. They aren't idiots who just live in a bubble and make shit up as they go along. There are studies, sales metrics, sales breakdowns tied into when they announce stuff, etc, etc, etc. I think it's funny I'm the person constantly defending what they are doing....to people who love the event, are going regardless, yet still get off on complaining about every aspect of the event not living up to their personal ideal event and thinking that it's because marketing is too stupid to figure out what they want and that the other hundreds of thousands of paying customers don't matter. PS - GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!
  10. One year does not a trend make. 6 things nobody heard of versus 3 is NOT a decision any company would make. It would be like someone saying that the Beastie Boys were better as a punk band and being pissed they didn't go back to that from Rap. It would be like Disney saying they don't want to rely on their cash cows and stop releasing Marvel and Starwars movies and instead release all original stand alone films. NOT. GONNA. HAPPEN. Unless people stop going...and start giving all the IPs 1 star reviews and the originals 5 stars...and so on and so forth over a 5-10 year period. A house is a 2-3 minute experience. What are you going to get the most out of, something you have NO CLUE about about and have to figure out on the fly that can greatly change based on cast, timing, etc, etc, etc....or a familiar property based on a movie (or TV show) that you can step right in to and understand. Universal's mission statement is basically to allow the park attendees to live the movies. The saying is, "You can prove anything you want using statistics" and that's very true, but don't let a perceived trend overule common sense and a glaring certainty.
  11. Not smart enough to delete the other pictures, but #2 looks like Darth Vadar, Darth Maul, Kylo Ren.....whoever are about to walk through that doorway
  12. I love these zones since I'm really into photography. I could wander around in it for hours taking pictures of the different scareactors. Agree with others that they aren't the scariest zones....unless you're really into photography and someone sets up right outside of your lens so when you take the camera away from your eye you get a hell of a scare!
  13. I want that skull projected onto buildings in this zone...the crumbling facade from the acid rain SZ was one of my favorite things ever, if they can project this onto a building, have it zoom in (get large) and then zoom out, the zoom to another building, etc. Could be pretty awesome.
  14. Really? It's marketing's fault another company had the wrong info? Was it the white house's fault when people were declaring Gore beat Bush in the election? Was it the NBA's fault when teams were reporting Kevin Love was traded last season? Was it HBO's fault that an Indian Vendor released their latest episode of Game of Thrones early on the streaming service? Spoiler Alert: Publix or Burger King are going to have displays or cups out before the full reveal, might as well start crafting your post to blame marketing right now. It's a hotel PR person, who clearly doesn't give a crap about HHN, trying to read up on something they don't understand and drum up some business. EDIT: Also to note, your interpretation to the word ORIGINAL is in the context of IPs and insider speak for HHN. Keep in mind, that other places, like Howl O' Scream, have REPEAT houses. So all the houses at HHN this year are in fact original. None of them have ever appeared at HHN Orlando before. Saw, Purge, etc have been there before...but these are new, different, unique houses based on the IP. They are original as they have never appeared any place before. It's a mistake, but it's an understandable one....and nothing to blame on marketing.
  15. Well, the Bill & Ted news sucks, but isn't exactly surprising. Probably starting about 5 years ago, it seems like my group outgrew it...all the references were over our heads. Because, well, we're old now. But last year I thought was the best in quite some time. But when we went to see it was the first time we ever saw it not FULL. Years past, we'd wait in line to see the show and not make it in for that one and have to wait another hour. Last year they were only letting people sit in the center section and were trying to stop you from going to the sides...when the video fails started showing, people started leaving the middle and heading towards the sides. Seems like the show is losing people to attrition and getting old and having families and stuff and the next gen of people going aren't so into it. Can't wait to see what they replace it with. Glad they are announcing it now instead of it being a surprise next year so it can have a proper send off. I find it quite interesting that people who have complained about AoV not being Horror Related are up in arms about this comedy show going away
  16. First season is only $20 on BluRay, goes on sale for $15 at Amazon and Best Buy quite frequently. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017DYVF40 Second season JUST came out, so it's still $35.
  17. They pretty explicitly say it's the show in the official announcement...going so far as to talk about the puppet. Goes against what everybody was saying before (Though Infrit implied it had changed) and I'm happy with the decision. http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/orlando/hhn-news.php#AvED I am thrilled to announce that Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights™ is partnering with the STARZ original series Ash vs Evil Dead this haunt season. As fans of the series (and of course the earlier films), all of us on the Creative team have been waiting years to bring this title to Halloween Horror Nights™. "Okay, uhh…obviously I know exactly what's going on but, for the sake of these people, maybe you should explain." When developing a new haunt experience based on one of your favorite movies/shows/etc., different challenges may arise. Creatively as a team, we want to give you, the fans, the best experience possible while still embracing the authenticity to the movie/show. I feel that this house lives up to the stories found within the Ash vs Evil Dead series, and isn't that what every fan wants to say? "Just stand behind me, and let the broomstick do the talking..." We're going to take you, regardless of your awareness of the show or the characters, and throw you into the loud, brash, and very bloody world of Ash. There are Deadites to kill and evil to stop, let's get to it. ...with stops in Choke-lahoma City and Die-ami..." The house will feature various locations from the first two seasons of Ash vs Evil Dead and lots of blood. And for those "in the know," the answer is yes...We'll be going back to the cabin; with a few other surprises along the way. "What? You never saw a guy with a chainsaw hand before?" This is our blood-soaked, milk-eyed, crass, rock n' roll amped, chainsaw-wielding felt puppet, love-letter to everyone and everything connected to Ash vs Evil Dead. "Hey, Granny! I hope you took your Geritol. It's time to dance!" It's time to start daydreaming of chainsaws revving (if you're not already) and grab your tickets now for Halloween Horror Nights™.
  18. We rent a big 3BR + lockout room suite at a resort...that is Sun - Sun. A few of us fly back Sun morning due to personal commitments and the rest of us cram into a little townhouse type place (that is a second home for one of our parents) and head to the airport early Mon morning. The idea of flying down a day earlier on the first Sat, cramming in house, then driving to Tampa and back all in one day, then moving all our stuff back up to Orlando for the week the next day....to then go back to the townhouse Sunday night after HHN...to quote the great Sgt Murtaugh, "I'm too old for this shit." I heard there was a private event that night...not sure if that was speculation or someone "in the know" commenting/confirming. No clue where I saw it...but there was a lot of conversation around it, they said that, and it seemed to be accepted as fact.
  19. The last weekend in Sept / 1st in October has traditionally been the first 4 day weekend. The Rush of Fear pass is good for the "first 10 days of the event" so it was the first 2 3-night weekends and then this weekend that was Thur - Sun. That might not be 1000% true for all time, but has been for the past 4-5 years that I've been getting the RoF+Express. We book our room like 10 months in advance (Up to a dozen of us come down from NY so it's a big trip) and were pissed and blindsided by the lack of the event on the 28th. Our own fault for assuming, but for what we pay for the airfare, room, ticket, and day park tickets (mostly for the stay and scream) this one less day means we're getting 25% less of the point of our trip. That really sucks. The first thing we thought was, "well....we can finally check out Howl O Scream this year!" trying to make lemonade out of lemons...but that's not an option.
  20. It's not any lost revenue unless you decide, "screw it...I'm not going now!" Whether you buy your ticket today or the day before the event, it's the same revenue for them. Speaking of lost revenue and other recent posts, Howl O Scream REALLY needs to add a 9/28 date! Since there is no HHN that Thursday screwing up people's already booked plans (a ton of out of towners, like my group, always go that weekend since it's the first 4 night weekend and covered by the Rush of Fear ticket) there would be a lot of non-Florida residents really interested in attending their event for the first time. Lot's of potential new fans that might make it an annual trip like hunnylvr...an opportunity the "secondary mature haunt at a major themepark" shouldn't pass up.
  21. Yup, but was trying to be PC. Was trying to think of a super popular hillbilly and pop band too....but drew a blank and decided just to stick to stuff that my generation would get excited by (which includes Jay-Z for some of my friends). I LOVE NIN and they're always played at the event so included them. Was going to include Marilyn Manson for the same reason, but feared getting off track on another religion-based discussion. Was just trying to think of an analogy about why they would want a big announcement and the way concert festivals announce like 3 or 4 bands, then trickle out the headliners, then dump the umpteen "other bands" seemed like a good one. It's a proven marketing campaign. And I go to a yearly music festival here and (usually) buy at the first announcement as a fan of the event (much like I do for HHN), then they announce each individual headliner over the next couple months, then they announce the BIG headliner and all the other bands and the shows, vendors, etc. They raise the tickets each phase too, but know that the MAJORITY of sales comes after the big reveal. The festival is in June and they actually have a Black Friday Blind Faith sale where you can buy your tickets 8 months in advance before they announce a single band for a significant discount and/or pay in installments with no interest.
  22. Situation A There's a huge concert coming up 6 months, tickets are $300 each. BUY TICKETS NOW! We'll announce the bands eventually. Month later, Metallica is playing! Month later, Nine Inch Nails is playing! Month later, a new band featuring members of Primus, Queens of the Stone Age, and Filter is making their live debut. ...its about this time that you start to forget about the event and get sick of checking the website every month, week, day, etc. The Metallica die hards already bought their tickets. Most people are pissed some band that doesn't have any songs out was announced (aka an original maze). Situation B You announce Metallica, NIN, Jay-Z, The White Stripes, and The Talking Heads reuniting....and 4 new bands making their debuts. it's a MUST SEE event now (obviously musical tastes dependent, but that's a given much like HHN is for a specific target audience that are fans of horror). It's soon. It's a big event. You make an impulse buy. That's what HHN is looking for, new fans since 80% (pulling that out of my ass) of the people who went last year are already set to return this year. We booked our room in Jan as soon as they started booking. We're money in the bank. There is no business benefit to marketing to us. Everybody who is complaining is already going. I love all the people complaining about stuff...yet as soon as the "when are you going?" thread starts they all already have their trip planned. Not talking about anybody specific and not even talking about this year as I don't think that thread has even been created yet....but this happens every single year. You need to grow the audience and there's MUCH more return on investment when you focus on those on the new adopters or impulse buyers. There's zero return on people who booked their trip months ago. That's from marketing. From the event itself, they strive to not only satisfy the die hards and other past attendees with what they like (say what you want about The Walking Dead, it was always popular with the longest waits), but know that the only way to grow the yearly fanbase is to win over the newcomers so they strive to do so. To bring it back to the music analogy, it's like the people who complain that they used to see Barenaked Ladies every weekend in a local bar (which I did in college) and then "They sold out! They stopped playing in Buffalo every weekend! They stopped playing at the Icon and started playing arenas and stadiums! Bastards!" If HHN just does what the diehards want and ignores the general public and new attendees, they're saying they're happy being a local band and don't want to grow. Are they going to piss off some diehards? I think this forum is proof positive of that. Is it the path to bigger and better things, more gate revenue, which in turns means more budget to make more/better houses, etc a better path? Yes.
  23. My take on Evil Dead for the fifth time, but with a different spin: Look at the scream fiasco. TV show versus the movies. Look at the Cantina whatever-it-was-called From Dusk Till Dawn ripoff house versus the movie that never happened versus the TV show that did. There are rights issues and it can screw with their plans. Particularly for an event at a MOVIE inspired themepark. Yes, TWD and AHS are TV shows, I'm well aware of that. Evil Dead took place in the Cabin 90% of the movie and PART of the TV show went there too. The movie Evil Dead 2 is owned by...not sure whom. It was like Renaissance Films or something weird, but sure that company has been acquired and re-acquired multiple times since. Starz does the TV show. Lots of potential for rights issues. So why not focus on the partsof the second movie with is more or less covered by the TV show anyway? They go to the cabin, meet the creature in the basement, the professor who reads from the necronomicon, the deer head on the wall, the possessed hand, etc, etc, etc. As a movie theme park, you focus on the parts from the movies...while also covering parts that appear on the TV show with the name Ash vs Evil Dead. Evil Dead 2 came out in '97...Army of Darkness had nothing related to Evil Dead in the title...Ash Vs Evil Dead is new, fresh, and resonates with people who never saw the movies. It's a win-win-win situation. And the name isn't misleading to anybody...except fanboys who think they know what the house is doing and because the rumor from anonymous sources saying it's based on the movies.
  24. Oh, sorry, didn't realize everybody else could be "rude" and bitch about everything, but I couldn't do it in return. Accept my sincerest apologies. My take is judge an event on it's merits, not on your preconceived opinions based on nothing but words on a website. I have an OPEN mind and I've been very disappointed on stuff I've very much looked forward to (cough, TWD, cough) and been very plesantly surprised by stuff I didn't think would be that great (Academy of Villians). I can't predict the future. Everybody here can apparently and can state, definitively, how they've been wronged and personally offended by the event...that hasn't happened yet. It's getting old. Fast. Again, I apologize if my bitching offended your bitching.
  25. "They won't give us any info, this isn't fair!" They release some info and everybody bitches. They announce WHEN they're making a big announcement and everybody bitches. "They're repeating Evil Dead and Saw!?!?!? This is Bull!@#$!" I really wish they re-did Catacombs and Gothic. Why won't they redo those? And bring back Hellgate Prison. And Dead Exposure. And Frightanic! Screw them for repeating houses! Who cares if one IP has 8 movies and the other has 4 movies and 2 seasons of episodes (yes, I know it's only from the first two movies...but making a point). They're still repeats. Nevermind that Halloween 2 is the same guy stalking the same girl in the same town....this is a travesty! "They're so lazy doing the same old thing every year!" Academy of Villians!?!?!? What does this have to do with horror other than their costumes and the content of their amazing shows. That's horrible! I wish they brought back Jack instead for the 32nd time. A VR experience? What kind of BS is this! Would prefer another house. "The Website sucks, it's not interactive like in the past!" What's this bullshit? A countdown clock, collecting our souls, slowly unlocking content based on twitter interactions. This sucks! "This year is going to suck! I have zero interest. this is going to be horrible!" But of course I already booked my trip and can't wait. Guess when I blocked Critical from my feed I missed out when he served everybody koolaid. Need to rename this site to horrornightsbitching.com. You guys probably complain when when a new roller coaster opens and it doesn't match the one you built in Rollercoaster Tycoon in 2009.
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