Oysterhead00

What was the license plate of the car you drove behind today? That was only 7 digits. It's only a simple thing for YOU because you've typed it 100 times. thisisjustassimple.com howeasyisthistoremember.net meatballdinnernight.com When it's something alien to you, that's a hell of a lot of characters to remember. Look at what I just put above, all common words...hell, MORE common than Halloween and Horror. They don't look so simple now do they? Depending on where your eye focuses first, it determines which words you recognize. It's what makes wordfind puzzles so difficult. All easy words that should stick out like a sore thumb, except they don't. When your brain doesn't see what it expects to see, it takes you a minute to figure it out. A minute that you don't have doing 75mph down the highway. What looks like halloween horror nights to you looks like a bunch of gibberish to others. Don't forget, if you're reading this billboard you're reading others. Was it .com or .net? night or nights? Etc It can be short too and still be a problem. A big sign of football games on TV and a big beer. Two of my favorite things. Then it has bw3.com. That's it. What the hell does that mean? Same billboard, with the Buffalo Wild Wings logo and then the text: NFL Sunday Ticket 40+ beers on Tap Guess what? I love beer and football, and I see the sign and it's familiar. If I want to go watch football when I'm in town, I know where to go. A beer, TV screens, and some URL that makes no sense to me gives me zero interest in investigating it. And after 20 min of driving, bw3 is going to be long forgotten. Hell, I just typed bmw.com earlier by accident as bw3 makes no sense. But that's all industry talk, my whole point to Critical was that marketing isn't here to pay lip service and thank the fans already coming. We get that through twitter and stuff. That's just for us as Joe Six Pack isn't on twitter following #hhn26 to learn stuff. All those nuggets online are to reward us fans. The billboards and commericals and stuff are designed for people who have no idea about the event. And they work. Why? Because every year we all complain a little bit louder about the lines. Their marketing does such a good job of maintaining (us regulars), adoption (new people), and retention (people who go for the first time this year and then become one of "us").

What is the event (I know, it's in the URL at the bottom)? Is it even an event or is it a year round thing? Where is it? When is it? Can I go today? I heard a radio ad about Bloody Mary, is this a Mary Mary Mary the same thing? Is it just like one maze or something? Is it a movie? I'm doing 75mph on the Beeline, that's a long URL to remember to find out what the hell this is all about. She looks cool though, I'll try to remember to go see the "Mary Mary Mary" movie when it comes out. Very bad billboard from my point of view. If they put the logo with "Universal Orlando" in it, timeframe of the event, and "x all new haunted houses and x terrifying new scare zones" or something else it would be awesome. The logo would have some brand recognition. The title of the event and the location are key. And showing more than just one character for an event, IE showing it has more to offer, will pique more interest. Even if it's just text. I know you want simplicity in a billboard, but this has ZERO information and the only thing included is a 20-something character long URL I have to try to remember when I get to my destination. It's oversimplified to the point of being useless. Yes, someone in the know would love it. When I fly in from NY, after researching the event for months, and see that billboard leaving the airport it's AWESOME! But guess what? I was already sold. My liking the billboard gives no benefits whatsoever to Universal. The visuals are great, but it's just a pretty picture with no info. I'm sure the surveys and stuff they've submitted and everything are what led them to not do ones like this anymore. It's always on the survey, "Did you see any billboards? Did they influence your desire to attend?" I'd wager that this billboard would generate about 75% of respondents saying they didn't see any billboards for the event and an even higher percentage saying it didn't influence their desire to attend at all. Now Disney, with brand recognition with their characters and the fact that everybody knows they are characters, can put up a plain old Micky Mouse sign with no details as it's a year round park and the character recognition is already there. A one off event character with a limited time run and no brand recognition to know where/what it is is a failure from a marketing perspective...and that's the sole purpose of billboards (I know political, social, anti DWI, etc ones are different).

It's still early and they've only unveiled the Icon specific stuff so far. There will be the house shirt that is rumored to FINALLY not have stupid blood lettering, always more than one lanyard, guaranteed to have individual-specific IP items, always multiple shotglasses, probably some of those little plastic big head figure things (drawing a blank as to what they're named), etc, etc, etc. The image is kinda growing on me...I thought JDW hit the nail right on the head with the Blade 2 mouth comment...but now that I look at it, it looks more like her "porcelain doll" face has cracked up and the bottom part of her face is gone...and the event logo is there but not part of her so it doesn't bother me quite as much, particularly in the poster. If they had something in her house with her face falling apart, like a scareactor with glow in the dark chance makeup on half her face and then some kind of black fabric covering the lower half so it's "invisible" in the black light it could make the image be something you recall form a house and be pretty cool.

Wow, I thought The Repository would look better than that...more like The Suppository! What a ripoff! Hell, the billboard is even better than this! Universal is the Devil!!!!!!!!!! Just kidding Clicked the link, watched 3sec of the first video and realized it was more than I wanted to see. Basically just posting this so I can go through my post history after the event, find this post, and THEN check them out. Should be a really interesting comparison after experiencing the event (hint hint, someone with a good night vision camera film walk throughs that can be edited in side by side with these videos).

ACADEMY OF VILLAINS: HOUSE OF FEAR As a riot breaks out in Shadybrook, this take-no-prisoners performance troupe thrusts you into a realm of madness and mayhem. High-energy dance and specialty acts mix in an explosion of insanity. The inmates are now running the asylum! That's cool, didn't know they were incorporating some past HHN properties into the show

We always have pictures of facades by now and we have nothing...I wonder if ALL facades will be inside the houses this year. That would actually be pretty cool. Loved the Elm Street house midway through Freddy vs Jason. For the Halloween House I think having the hospital inside vs outside is a no brainer. Inside it can feel huge since it can take up "all the space", where as outside something as large as a hospital would have to be scaled down 95% and look ridiculous or only show a couple windows worth of the hospital at scale looking like it's tiny and chopped off. Inside, with the main hospital entryway and windows running off to both sides will make it feel like the whole building is actually there as you're not seeing it abruptly end as you would outside. Some cool matte paintings on either side of the structure could give the illusion of it stretching on forever.

I think the exit zigzag could be really interesting...after it's completely dark out. A waist high black wall with whatever crazy colors on it that appear to be 3D, but then from mid height, just regular dark outside. That could be an interesting mindf*** with dancing blobs of light in half your field of view and just the regular outside for the other half. And not knowing where you're going would mean you'd have to look down to see where to go. Could be really disorienting. They just better not have giant spotlights nearby.

No, not you...or anybody specific. Just the general "OMG the commercial isn't exactly what I wanted, the marketing people are idiots!" posts. I'm in marketing, so feel the need to defend my brethren when people start insulting their intelligence because the commercial isn't the idea they had in their head .

Calm down, this is a Coke commercial / tie in for the event.... It would be like freaking out over the Jeep Renegade / Batman v Superman commercial NOT containing either Batman or Superman. Why didn't it include them? Because they're trying to sell the car. Showing people flying and driving a Batmobile doesn't help their product at all. What will help Coke the most? The two most popular horror-related series currently on TV (or possibly in history) and two of the most popular horror movies in history....or some Harley Quinn knockoff? The ad content has to appeal to both parties involved in a synergistic alliance like this. Having the Icon in the commercial really limits it to the greater Orlando area. Granted, MANY of us here on the forum are from across the globe...but having Chance in there means nothing to 99.9% of the population. I think I've seen exactly ONE HHN commercial here in NY and that was on Travel Channel like 5 years ago. Hell, most people would think, "Coke has a Tie In with Suicide Squad" and that hurts Universal by people thinking it's a commercial for Warner Bros....a competitor studio. I'm sure the Universal event commercial will have her in there. The radio commercial, I'm sure was heard in the greater Orlando Area and they know there's name/brand recognition there.

Any rumors of what houses will be on the tour this year (with the obvious caveat that it could change at any time and have subs if maintenance is needed)?

I'm the opposite. HATED the blood lettering and it took me like 3 or 4 years to realize it. I'd buy the shirt every year all happy about it, then it would just sit in a drawer because I was too embarrassed to be seen with the stupid blood lettering on the front. But I was too stupid to realize that for a while so I have like 4 of the shirts collecting dust in a drawer that really haven't ever been worn. Brought them to HHN a few times thinking it was a good idea, but being from NY the Florida sun with a heavy black T-Shirt on didn't work out so well. Ha ha ha.

If Diagon Alley is closed as rumored, then maybe it would be re-opened this year. There has to be a way over. Guess we'll find out in 2 weeks.

I don't think they had the usual pass through area last year that they've had forever. If you have JUST IOA I think you might be out of luck. If you have a park to park ticket, you take the Hogwards Train over and stay in Potterland. BUT it closes early...I think like 30min before Universal. So you can't stay at IOA and then take the train over when HHN starts. We got screwed by that one day last year.

It's not just for Horror Nights, it's all the time now. http://www.insidethemagic.net/2015/12/new-security-measures-at-universal-orlando-resort-metal-detectors/ Guests are being asked to empty out their pockets in addition to the bag check, with Universal security officers utilizing metal detecting wands to scan each guest as well. It’s a similar process that’s used during Halloween Horror nights.

The Movieland Hotel right across from Wet N Wild is where we stayed the first 10 years we went. It's old, but it's clean. It has crazy outdated pictures on the walls (like N*Sync) and has no real frills. It has an outdoor pool (don't think it has a hot tub, but might be wrong) and an on site Black Angus restaurant. The breakfast buffet there is horrible, and never ate lunch or dinner there, but at night it can be fun. People say it has AMAZING steaks. Apparently, most hotel bars on I-Drive close at like 10pm or something and they're open later...so the employees from all the other bars show up there for some late night fun and Kareoke. If all you want is a roof over your head, it's perfect. You could walk to Universal if you wanted to...otherwise it's like $10 for a cab ride there. Whatever you do, DON'T TAKE THE FREE SHUTTLE. Since you are right where the hotels start on I-Drive, you get picked up first and then drive alllllll the way down I-Drive. It took so long, we were tempted to get off and call a cab from wherever we were. Taking it home wouldn't be a bad idea, but we never seemed to do that...maybe it stops running at midnight or something. Not sure. It's been a good 5 years since we stayed there, but it was more than serviceable and was one of the cheapest places you could find on I-Drive. Really old video games and the vending machines on each floor seem to be out of service half of the time, but it's a roof over your head. http://www.monumentalmovielandhotel.com/

EVERY night is a madhouse now. Been going since 2004 and have been going in late Sept / early Oct since 06 or so after learning our lesson of how nuts it is closer to Halloween. Used to be really dead on Thursdays with nothing over 30min, but now it's really as busy as Friday. The only saving grace is that with people having to work and/or go to school on Friday, it seems to really clear out after 11ish. If you're staying until 2am, you can do some serious houses from Midnight on. One or two houses will still have significant lines (the ones that had 90+ minute lines early in the night so a lot of people avoided them until later) but others you're usually able to just repeatedly go through as fast as you can weave your way through the queues (usually the sound stage houses since everybody does them as soon as they get in the park). Of course, that's over simplifying things. Like you said, there are years we've gone when Thursday has been insane, Friday shockingly empty, Saturday so bad we've just walked around and done our favorite houses and then put in some quality time at Pat O'Briens, and then Sunday anywhere from dead to insane. No real rhyme or reason, but from my experience going the same timeframe every year, I'd rate the days from least to most crowded: Thur, Sun, Fri and then waaaaaaaay at the other side of the spectrum, Sat.

The Exorcist and The Exorcist. Why it could be bad: This is Critical's post after all, so might as well start with the negative. It's on soooooo many people's favorite movie of all time list and you have to meet their exceptions. It's so hard to have an organic walk through of a movie that takes place almost exclusively in 1 room. There aren't many "characters" in the movie to scare you. They're obviously going to add a bunch of characters to scare the shit out of you. Why it could great: Been there, done that...except this house switches it up keeping what you love and adding a whole new spin on it. Taking one set from the movie, and through thoughtful creative interpretation, making it awesome across multiple diverse sets. Introducing new "characters" that didn't appear in the film(s) yet compliment the story....or using the few from the movie to still do the trick (like Halloween). My thoughts: Has the potential go both ways...and will. It might be a flop (I put that at 5%) and might be mindblowingly awesome (I put that at 80%) yet is surely going to piss off movie purists who are going to be disappointed no matter what (they make up the other 15% of my probability matrix I pulled out of my ass after a couple beers) since it's going "off script". But given how reverent Mike is to the IP, I have to think they're going to do it justice and that the vast majority of people will love it...but there WILL be haters.

Yeah, it looks like something you could do yourself with $10 in supplies from Michael's. Then again, the first time everybody see's a Picasso they say, "Hell, I could do that".... except they can't. If there are only 20 and every one is truely unique with a hologram COA on the bottom, that's not all that bad. Not for everybody, but if that's your thing it's less than a single night's express or a mass produced mask and is a one-of-a-kind souvenir. Not my cup of tea, but it's a cool idea for those that appreciate stuff like that.

Well this is interesting... https://hhnunofficial.com/2016/08/28/more-details-on-chance-in-hell-scarezone/ I hope it's true and I hope it lasts longer than the Voodoo Bayou mini-show that was gone after the first week! A few days ago we showed you the 4 new stages that have appeared between Minion Mayhem and Shrek 4-D for “Chance in Hell” (shown above), but our reliable sources have informed us that there is a larger, fifth stage stored backstage that will be hauled out on a trailer nightly for event nights. This stage will host Chance herself, giving us ominous speeches and killing innocents! Indeed, Chance will have her own, mini-show of sorts, in the center of her scarezone, very close to the entrance of the park.

That's like going to watch kindergardeners play kickball to prep for the Super Bowl. Hey, they're both sports-related... If you are going to watch those things thinking they will prep you for the houses, you're basically guaranteed to be disappointed because shoehorning original houses into categories of IPs based on physical similarities, time periods, and genres is silly.

Looks familiar...

If I may be critical for a moment, you already have looked at this thread therefore you are a liar. Then, 7 hours after saying you would never look at this thread, you liked someone else's comment in this forum. Liar part duex. Huh, was trying to see what it was like to piss all over every post...not as fun as I thought it would be. Anyway, to the subject at hand, saw this video from someone's twitter feed. Wish I could remember who's it was, but sent the link to a friend so have it handy. All credit to the guy in the video. PS - if you comment on this post, that would be a manage-a-lie.

Krampus Tomb of the Ancients Lunatics Playground Exorcist Ghost Town Halloween II Texas Chainsaw Massacre American Horror Story The Walking Dead Repository Changed it up a bit since the old thread. Have AHS queued up on Netflix and hope to binge watch at least half of season 1 this weekend so that will surely change it's placement. I really love both Halloween and TCM, but I just can't build up much anticipation for them as I know what to expect and feel like I've been there, done that before. Sure I'll love both houses and feel really bad for having them so low. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 9/21 update. After my friend convinced me to start watching AHS Season 4 I have to greatly revise my anticipation list. Couldn't get into Season 1 or the other season at all, but Season 4 is just insane and lends itself SO MUCH to a house. I head down this weekend so my last pre-event anticipation. Seemed like a good time to do it. Have read a few non-spoiler reviews as well as browsed through some other reviews that gave ratings where I ignored what was written. Caused Ghost Down and Tomb of the Ancients to do some moving. 1. Krampus 2. Ghost Town (the non-spoiler buzz is just amazing and has me really excited) 3. AHS 4. Tomb 5. Exorcist 6. TCM 7. Chance 3D (still love 3D houses) 8. Halloween II (Feel like this should be higher...but can't shake the "been there, done that" feeling) 9. The Walking Dead (Don't hate this NEARLY as much as most people and having it be a Best Of makes me think I'll move it up my review list) 10. The Repository (Was never planning on doing this, but hearing that the VR is only 10min long knocks it even further down my list if possible)

Hot off the presses...just got an email: Please be advised the check in for Unmasking the Horror Tours will take place at the Blue Man Group theater, located in CityWalk, right next door to Universal Studios Florida. Please follow signage to the check-in desk. Morning and Combo Unmasking the Horror Tour check in begins at 10:00AM and Tour departs at 10:30AM Afternoon Unmasking the Horror Tours check in begins at 1:30PM and Tour departs at 2:00PM Contact Us Should you have any questions at all, or need to make any changes to your Unmasking the Horror Tour, please contact the Universal Orlando VIP Experience Office. We are available 7 days a week, during normal business hours (EST) and can be reached either via phone (407-363-8295 Option 3) or email (viptours@universalorlando.com)

Make sure it has the Rx label clearly readable on it and you have your photo ID to show it's yours. If they give you any shit, ask to see their supervisor. I've been some places that wanted to make me leave my Rx's in a first aid station and go there to use them. Screw that. Especially for pills...just crotch it and they'll never pat you down there and the wands won't detect it