Pumpkin

I will say this... We have a very interesting background audio loop. A large portion of it should be recognizable for most Generation Y horror enthusiasts. Props if you know it right away because it even took me a few minutes to nail it.

I saw the Coke ad Sunday evening during the Law & Order: SVU marathon on TBS. lol I watch the same time blocks/shows regularly though, and I don't really channel surf too much anymore. That's probably why I've only seen it that one time.

I am happy for the fans who wanted a simple, cheaply priced zip up. You got what you wanted, and that's nice considering that the community doesn't get much consideration when it comes to merchandize. I hope you guys make some sort of dent in sales to prove to Universal that hoodies are a worthy venture for HHN. It's personally disappointing because I like flashier designs when it comes to specialty apparel. If I'm paying good money for a piece of clothing, I want strangers to stop me and be like, "That's an awesome xyz! Where did you get it? What does it mean?" And, I'm sorry, but $35 is good money to me. In comparison, I'm loving Howl-O-Scream's hoodie this year. The front is simple but not so simple that it's boring. I changed my mind at the last minute about the 2010 Hollywood hoodie and bought a black Universal Orlando hoddie with pink cursive across the front instead. Could not be happier with that decision. Hoodies are more novelty collectibles to me than actual clothing. I don't buy them to keep me warm, I buy them for the intrigue, shock value, and aesthetics. I buy the pins for nostalgia. And that's what this topic really comes down to: a balanced scale of opposing values, neither more important or validated than the other. It's a personal preference. To me, this is a mediocre product with a last minute decision style, much like the one from Hollywood last year. Universal obviously met their quota though, or else it wouldn't be rearing it's endearing head here in Orlando this year. So for two years in a row, they've used the same design for this product. And just to clarify, we don't know how well it actually did with the general public last year. Now, I was a South Florida teenager just a short while ago, and when it came to hoodies and t-shirts all I cared about was cool looking band apparel. The louder, the better. I had a Bob Marley hoodie covered in pins, patches, spikes, and whatever other random crap I could get my hands on. You needed earplugs just to chance a glimpse at the damned thing. This HHN hoodie is the antitheses. It's not what the majority demographic of the general public is going to reach for on the shelves. These teenage and young adult males are going to go for the Rockabilly shot glasses. Alcohol is one of their biggest forbidden and favored fruits. It's got a skull, dice, and a well endowed lady on it; ergo, its the coolest thing since sliced bread for them. This is what I DON'T want to see happen: just enough people buy this hoodie to reach the year's minimum quota and the design keeps getting recycled because of that. I don't want it to be 2015 by the time we get an alternative design, but to play the loyal consumer game in order to get better merchandize further on down the line is unfair. Why can't it be great now? This isn't even really a game of You Can't Please Everyone. The community is obviously split down two different value systems. I genuinely hope that this testing of the waters results in timely and beneficial actions for everyone. If it's just fluff, all the more disappointment. : (

I agree with Hush, Legacy, Aaron, and the others who think that this hoodie is disappointing... Blasphemy, yes, but I'm loving Howl-O-Scream's hoodie in comparison. This hoodie started in Hollywood last year. I found out about it last October (thanks to this site), went to the Universal store, and almost placed the order for it. I changed my mind at the last minute and bought a black Universal hoddie with pink cursive across the front instead. Could not be happier with that decision. I consider myself an armchair seamstress and crafter, and I think that even I could make something better than this thing, and mostly by hand too. Right now, my Joann's has neon colored hoodies marked down to like $3.99. Use a 40% or 50% coupon for the fabric paint, and you've got all your supplies for about $6.00 with tax. You do need a steady hand to write Halloween Horror Nights, but with practice that's the least of your worries. This hoodie would be more of a collectible for me than actual clothing. If I want or need something to keep me warm, I'm going to take that money and buy something thicker for my wardrobe.

Sounds like the pins aren't out yet. Merchandize said that the sku numbers haven't been released yet and that inventory isn't finished. Also good to know, the Universal Store doesn't have a line that can be reached by outside numbers.

Stupid question... Will merchandize actually be for sale on Wednesday night? I've always worked Employee Preview, so I've never gotten the chance to see what's out in the Universal Store or what's on the side carts. I'm in the streets this year though, and we're done an hour sooner than the houses that night. If they're going to have stuff out, I think I might do my buying then instead of Saturday.

Awesome items, fallon! You've got one heck of a rare collection for 2001.

YES, decks of cardddsss!!! I'm happy for those who wanted hats and hoodies as well. : ) May end up buying the hoodie instead of a t-shirt this year depending on how good the the designs are for each one. I'm a fan of having something on the back of it, and because I'm in a scare zone it's not like I'm dying to buy the house shirt, although the houses are fantastic this year. I've slowly come to terms with the fact that my swag budget and fun money is going to have to be about three times as much as it usually is. lol Just to explain, this is my first year going to Howl-O-Scream, first year doing Unleashing the Horror, first year going to VUDUCON, and I'm the kind of person who'd happily spend the rest of her life in t-shirts, jeans, and converse. And there's a lot of t-shirts to be had this year between HNN, HHN, HOS, and Legacy's Zazzle shop. Not to mention, I have a serious pin/button compulsion.... You know what, let's just say there's a reason why I actually work the event every year. Company money out, company money right back in. lol

Come on card deck and rabbit's foot too? : P

Things I want to know more about for this year: 1. Is Universal going to take a consistent stance on no official tagline or back story for this year? I'd like to see this era remain as confusion free as possible. 2. With the Poe House in Orlando and the Alice Cooper house in Hollywood, does this mean that we'll be seeing other individualized cross-idiom collaborations/homages for house and scare zone theming? These are singular artists being showcased, not just solitary pieces of source material (such as Asylum in Wonderland or Path of the Wicked). Would be great to see A&D keep going on this track and get even more creative with the wide range of horror-eque masterminds who they could honor. Things I want to know more about in general: 1. The recent pattern for iconic attractions within the event. Like, we had mostly houses in the Expansions and Iconic Era, but now in the New Age of Darkness we seem to be focused on scare zones. I want to know if we will see this progress to legitimate shows, large scale opening scaremonies, or other live theatrical performances in the near future. Or maybe there is some sort of fourth frontier on the horizon which we haven't yet guessed? 2. This sort of ties into the first question. I truly loved this idea, which King_K. brought up in the Speculation II thread: have they ever considered rewriting the Beetle Juice show with new songs every year and having the show debut during HHN, keeping the routine year round until the following event's debut?

Are you the Keymaster? : P Yeah, wicker... of all materials, go figure.

SCARE THIS MAN. lol He is my fiance, auruspex. And obviously that's me to the left. I'm scaring in the streets this year though.

No new game updates on the website... But it's been a week. :'(

I'm glad to see that this subject did get it's own thread. I hesitated to post my opinion before for the sole reason of compromising the integrity of its source material (we haven't seen the house yet). The following is obviously my own perspective; this isn't like the National Consensus, I'm not representing the entire single, female, early 20s, Caucasian, civilian demographic. I'm registered No Party Affiliation. I have no friends or close relatives who are active duty servicemen or servicewomen (none that I've been comfortable enough to talk about this sort of thing with, at least). I am a devil's advocate. So with that out of the way... I think that a better system NEEDS to be developed in order to make EVERY guest's awareness of event content more lucid and thorough. As of right now, this concept is practically nonexistent. Example: I just did some role playing. I pretended that I have a special need which currently dictates specific things that I should and should not do to maintain a healthy and active life style (insert heart disease, pregnancy, PTSD, schizophrenia, epilepsy, high blood pressure, dependency on a service animal, wheel chair, or other device for locomotion or navigation, etc.). I go on to Halloween Horror Night's website for information. On the home page, there is a warning at the bottom of the screen that only mentions that this event is not intended for children under the age of 13. I click on it to see if it will take me to more information. Nothing happens. 15 minutes later, I finally locate the Frequently Asked Questions section of the site, which you actually have to click on the word Tickets to get to. When I hover over Tickets, it is not included in the automatic drop down menu. If you're somehow intuitive enough click on Tickets, it is the very last menu point on the right hand side of the screen. I then read through each of the 15 questions listed. Not one of them mentions health concerns. Furthermore, Guest Services is not even mentioned anywhere on the page. No phone number, no contact information, nothing. I've now spent 20 minutes trying to answer a simple question: Should I risk buying an expensive ticket for something that could potentially cause harm to me in any way, shape, or form? What about the cost of travel? You can see where I'm going with this. This situation turns from a thrilling experience into a disappointing money sink in the blink of an eye. I personally don't feel it's fair that people have to wait until they're inside the park to find out just how many of the eight houses are going to accommodate their special need. I also don't think it's fair that I now have to do another Google search for Universal Orlando's Guest Service's phone number, which does come up on the first try thankfully. The website is completely absent of acts of inclusion. It does not foster a sense of security or concern for this element of diversity. This is my suggestion to improve the situation. In order to avoid unnecessarily releasing private or disclosed information to the public, simply set up a chain reaction for those who need more information: 1. Put Guest Service's phone number on the event's website. 2. Compile a conscious protocol manual every year detailing information on each house, scare zone, and show regarding both physical characteristics and thematic content and how either could hinder an individual's well being. Now, obviously this needs to be quick, to the point, and logical. It doesn't have to be this cumbersome thing, but simply a quick reference to answer a person's question via phone call. Example: "Does xyz house have strobes?" If they have a very specific concern, such as, "I have an electric wheelchair that is larger than the standard size. What is your required Fire Code clearance? I'm concerned that my chair may not easily fit around some of the corners in your houses," then we move on to the next step. 3. Offer PRE-SCHEDULED tours of any concerning areas. Every event night, from 5:45-6:30, escort guests who have requested this service in advance, voluntarily provided applicable documentation or evidence if necessary, and have already purchased their ticket to inspect whatever area is concerning them. Let me be clear, I am not saying that you should let a person with epilepsy walk through a fully operational Dead Exposure alone. Nor am I saying that the Vietnam medic should go though a fully operational Nightingales by himself. These are obviously sensitive matters that require delicate handling. Let the medic walk through the house with the lights on, play the sounds separately while he listens backstage, etc. If Universal took the time to make me feel like my needs genuinely mattered, then I'm going to be far less disappointing that I can't go into a house; whereas, if I take the gamble, buy my ticket, then show up and discover that I can't do half the attractions, I'm going to be pretty pissed off in plain English. No additional people would need to be hired in order to implement this system. I know this is the day and age of being required to go above and beyond your job description, but this is something that could be easily incorporated into people's intimidate responsibilities with HHN. The more people you get involved, the lighter the workload is for everyone. How hard would it be to say to someone, "By the way, you're already working with this specific subject, would you mind shooting me a quick bullet point email of things you suggest we look out for?" Anyway, I have a great deal of respect for our serviceman and woman, and I'm all for diversity. It's not my place to make analogies or pass personal judgement on whether or not this PTSD discussion is a valid argument. All I know is that right now there's NO acts of inclusion pertaining to the guests who attend HHN, and I hope that something serious can be done about that in the near future before a situation does occur that everyone regrets. Preventative maintenance wins over damage control every time.

I'm shanghaiing, I mean giving Auruspex my Employee Preview ticket. So he can take lots of pictures of me. lol Also I'm listed twice under October 8th.

Definitely agreed, this would be wonderful!

I checked out the rest of your pictures, Nick, and I'm getting more and more excited for Grown Evil. : ) Can't wait to see what kind of makeup we're going to be getting. It's been on my mind for weeks! lol

I read through the thread, and I didn't see this mentioned yet. In the permits, elevated ceilings or some sort of alternative form of fire sprinklers were mentioned for multiple houses, yes? I think some members had speculated that it could be a hint for a lot of upswing scares this year. Anyone think that the majority of our female banshees might be pursuing us victims from above? If it's done how the wire bride in Dracula was (but with multiple actors), then it might be distracting enough to overpower the immediate setting of the house. Based off of the new clues on the website, I think we are going to be seeing mostly situational attacks. A lot of field hospital scenes in individual rooms/tents/wards/what ever you want to call them. These nurses are supposed to be slowly preying on their patients. I can't imagine too many scenes involving them going after soldiers in the field. I can't even really imagine a patient escaping their grasp either. The clues paint it as a pretty hopeless situation.

Hear-hear, Hush. lol Parents bringing their children is probably my biggest pet peeve as a scare-actor. It's seriously just cruel, and I wish it qualified them for a call from the state.

It seems like there is some hair color inconsistency, but I think that's just due to the fact that so few people actually have truly red hair. I think the marketing version of her is more fantastical and idealized, whereas what you're seeing for the real life incarnation is exactly what you'd expect: a real life actress whose hair looks natural. I've met a lot of strawberry blonds, strawberry brunets, and orange reds, but only like one true same crimson shade over her entire head redhead. I think if they dyed it to match it wouldn't be as authentic or believable, and lighting has a lot to do with it too. Hair color can play tricks in different kinds of light and at different angles. Not to get too off topic, and this is not meant to start a brawl either, but look at last year; we had a Chance of every hair color throughout the park. The Chance in my house, Hallow'd Past, was a natural redhead with straight, shoulder length hair who braided her pigtails every night. The original Chance who was placed in the streets had long, frizzy, dark brunet hair. Her tap-out had straight, blond, shoulder length hair. It's something that tends to be a bit of a problem, mostly because the only real way to prevent the issue is to do wigs across the board, like with Bloody Mary. I do hope that there are different wigs for this year though. The one in the Tyra photos... worries me. : \

Yeah, a friend of mine brought that up too. I agree, she wouldn't seem as menacing if she was way younger or had that cigar girl/chorus girl feel, and that actress is very much an attractive lady. I wouldn't have guessed that they were going to try for a timeless approach. Plus the fact that she's not really human and all. Separately, they could have adjust the front of the dress though. Because I'm not convinced that that's actually her stomach. I think the lack of darting just doesn't work with that princess cut halter top combo. Very pretty dress, but sometimes a style just doesn't go with an individual's body shape. Can't tell you how many times I've picked up a dress that looked great on the rack just to find out that it looks terrible on me. It needs more couture and control, a la ribbing. Alright, enough girl talk.

Not to be mean... but Universal is definitely letting Lady Luck's age show quite a bit. First the tummy pouch, now the arm wing. Don't get me wrong, most of us gals are in for the same fate. Diet and exercise can only prevent so much for so long, which is why I'm a little bit surprised that they went with a more mature woman for what I'd have sensationalized as a youthful, reckless, and showy theme. And we can do better than that wig, Entertainment. : P Anyway, I do think it's a unique and valid approach, just not sure how effective it is for me on a personal level.

The guy talking in that recording after you beat the second S&S game sounds like Bill Nighy. lol