HHN 22 Speculation

[SeventyOne]

I don't know how old anybody else on the board is, but I'm wondering if there is a generational disconnect when it comes to P&T (just like I imagine there are college students who think of Ice Cube as a comedic actor rather than the guy who rapped about jumping cops). P&T have always been a comedy act, but in the 80s there humor was dark, and often gory. The first trick I remember seeing is Penn stabbing Teller's hand to reveal a card. Their first movie was called Penn & Teller Get Killed, and the plot is basically them trying to murder one another for 90 minutes. If they drop the politics and The Apprentice and get back to their roots, this could be a house right in line with "Home for the Holidays" or "Leave it to Cleaver".

[JDW]

35... and I think you are correct in that. I remember some very gorey and dark tricks by them.

In other news:

We have updated the first post to include the most current information.

[LV-426]

What I'd really be concern about is where do they going to fit the 7th house, how do they going to manage the people flow around the park, how many scarezones we will have and their locations. I was thinking that maybe if they fit 3 of those SZ in the back, people will have a reason to be there besides B&T. The Amity hallway is wider than last year's Canyon of Souls, put the appropiate music, lighting, fog and throw the chainsaw drill team on the top of that and you'll have the hell of a scarezone.

that, would really suck, I know the chainsaw drill team is part of HHN, but they always have something else going on, this is what I am afraid of for this year and why it might suck compared to other years, we might get worst scarezones than last year, with no props and just fog, what if we get 6 houses? what if they cant do anything about it, what if we just get one big scarezone like in 2007, I think the houses will be good and I am happy for the line up, but I am afraid the streets and the park will be lacking this year, I guess it will be exactly like 2007 in that way, where they had no zones but great houses, it is true that the lack of 8th house means they can do more for the remamining 7 (or 6) houses, but i would be sad if the streets end up lacking like some of the zones last year, or 2009 for that matter,

I don't know how old anybody else on the board is, but I'm wondering if there is a generational disconnect when it comes to P&T (just like I imagine there are college students who think of Ice Cube as a comedic actor rather than the guy who rapped about jumping cops). P&T have always been a comedy act, but in the 80s there humor was dark, and often gory. The first trick I remember seeing is Penn stabbing Teller's hand to reveal a card. Their first movie was called Penn & Teller Get Killed, and the plot is basically them trying to murder one another for 90 minutes. If they drop the politics and The Apprentice and get back to their roots, this could be a house right in line with "Home for the Holidays" or "Leave it to Cleaver".

this is very very true, I think maybe the house might end up surprising everyone and it ends up being really gory and with a lot of dark sick humor

[FreeGrizzlyBearRides]

I don't understand why everyone is still trying to decipher the codes. JW spelled it out for everyone a few pages back. I think everyone's speculation focus now should switch to what we will see in the houses that are happening and what the scarezones will be and where they will be. To continue to worry about the "clues" is a waste of time.

Fair enough lol

[QuestionMark]

Penn and Teller actually has a lot of potential. I've always wanted to see a gory, magicians gone crazy kind of house. Question is, would their house be located in one of the sprung tents? I would guess that Silent Hill, Alice Cooper, the mansion house, and the gargoyle house would take up the soundstages. Just a guess though.

[Legacy]

Penn and Teller actually has a lot of potential. I've always wanted to see a gory, magicians gone crazy kind of house. Question is, would their house be located in one of the sprung tents? I would guess that Silent Hill, Alice Cooper, the mansion house, and the gargoyle house would take up the soundstages. Just a guess though.

Alice Cooper and Penn and Teller are Sprungs.

SS 33 is Silent Hill

Victorian Manor has our Belfry and Mirror

Gargoyles will fly in SS22

DE-esque house will use the Vortex

[QuestionMark]

Alice Cooper and Penn and Teller are Sprungs.

SS 33 is Silent Hill

Victorian Manor has our Belfry and Mirror

Gargoyles will fly in SS22

DE-esque house will use the Vortex

Ohh ok I see now. Thanks for clearing that up!

[thedonnie]

I'm 31 and a magician, you have to remember that not of the best tools we have to pull off a trick is misdirection and that alone could make their house amazing. There is a short film that shows Tellers house and it has areas that are made to have secret doors and the abundance of mirrors to make it look larger than it really is.

[alone]

Wow, if the rumors are true then this year is looking awfully terrible.

[Blizzrock13]

concerning all the negativity surrounding the houses: nobody has experienced them, seen drawings, or know little to no details about any of the houses. Alice Cooper was one of(if not the) highest rated house of last year. P&T can have illusions in every room, maybe to distract you as a scareactor comes out to scare you, or it could be made to just be an awesome experience not made for scares. Just like a comedy house isn't geared mostly towards scares. Silent Hill and WD are popular horror series with major potential given A&D's track record of turning horror series into houses. No one knows for sure until they see it their selves. 5,6 and 7 are original concepts with potential to be very scary given their description. If 7 is anything like DE was, it will be very hard to beat scare wise. Complaining about the theme of a house will do nothing. It says nothing about the actual house itself. I for one am excited for all of them as they've never been tried (with the exception of 7 and to an extent 6). AC looks very awesome.

I think I've reached the point in my HHN career that I've come to understand that the idea of a house isn't everything. A lot of the houses that had me super excited going in disappointed, and visa versa. However, I have no problem with people being negative here if they're not a fan of the house ideas. It's all we have to go on, after all, and if people can be positive with just the ideas to go on, naturally people should be able to be negative as well.

I do think people should relax and not worry too much, however. We really don't know a lot yet and, well, really we won't know how things are until employee preview time.

As for me, I do have to admit these concepts as a whole leave a lot to be desired. There are a few I'm pretty excited about. The gargoyles house seems really promising. I'm told TWD is a fantastic tv show. The victorian house sounds like there could be some really impressive sets. But on the whole, these themes seem a bit lacking. The Penn&Teller house could be ok, but without knowing more about how A&D will spin it, it's hard for me to view it as much of a factor. Alice Cooper seemed like it made an ok house @ USH, but I really couldn't care much less about the real Alice Cooper, and honestly it seems like a weak subject matter to me (as if it's created just as a cash in, when we could easily design something similar and more original that wasn't based on a rock star). The dead exposure-ish house really leaves me nothing to go on. So I await more details.

But really, when it comes down to it, I'm not fretting too much over these house themes. There's some good, and bad, like every year, and the design and actors will be the deciding factor. Similarly, one less house doesn't make me worried. It's a shame, but hey, maybe that just means more actors for the streets, more actors for the other houses, or just slightly longer houses in general. Here's a few things that ARE on my mind:

1) Crowds and spacing -- Obviously with one less house, that means longer lines for the remaining 7 houses. Will Universal do anything to make up for this? Open more rides, have more shows? Also: the house spacing is currently really screwed up. Instead of having the pretty much perfect spacing that we had in previous years, we now have 4 houses up front, and then a pretty skimpy population around the rest of the park (if you're looking at a map, it's one on the top half, one on the right hand side, and one on the bottom half. That's a lot of park for 3 houses, instead of the usual 5).

2) Roaming Zones -- This is really what scares me. I have faith that Universal will do a pretty good job handling everything else, but as soon as someone mentioned the possibility of roaming zones returning I felt like hitting my head on the table. 2007's attempt at this really stands out as one of the biggest disappointments I've ever seen in my 7 years attending. Few set pieces, fewer actors, and little in the way of lighting led to an almost negligible halloween atmosphere across the park (except for the Central Park area). It felt like you were just walking around USF at night on any normal evening. They barely even turned down the lights. It was a shame too -- that year had the best house lineup of any year I've ever seen. But it'll never be regarded as one of the best years because of the failure that was roaming zones.

The reasons for this are simple enough to understand. Actors play off each other and off their environment for scares. HHN can't pay to have large quantities of actors all over the park -- so naturally, the first issue is that the actors get too spread out and they're just too easy to see coming. HHN also can't pay to theme the whole park, so they attempt to theme it a little all over the place, the end result being that it is themed properly no where. Lacking set pieces, lighting, etc., a scareactor's job becomes a lot harder.

[Teach]

Anyone else feel or think that the Victorian house is a repeat or reused props from Winter's Night? That was my first thought when JW explained the clues.

[Coast]

I don't get how anyone can really say that the houses will suck when a.) With all due respect to Dr. Jimmy, they aren't officially confirmed by Universal (it's been mentioned before about how things can always change) and b.) nobody has seen any concept art of any kind. This is the equivalent of saying that a roller coaster is going to suck just by looking at it when you haven't even ridden it yet.

I will say that the rumors of only one scarezone and roaming hordes scares the hell out of me because what makes HHN so special for me is the atmosphere that no other event has in my opinion.

Anyone else feel or think that the Victorian house is a repeat or reused props from Winter's Night? That was my first thought when JW explained the clues.

Now this sounds awesome! One can hope!

Edited June 25, 2012 by Coast

[sarah21683]

Not only is there the very real possibility for no or very few scarezones, only 7 houses, and only one real show (if Death Drums comes back, it's not really a show like Bill and Ted or Rocky Horror), but all of this accompanies a $7 increase in regular single night tickets. More than the normal $5 increase. I want to know how they are going to justify a decrease in the quantity of content juxtaposed with such a sharp price increase. Or will they even try?

[Grime]

Not only is there the very real possibility for no or very few scarezones, only 7 houses, and only one real show (if Death Drums comes back, it's not really a show like Bill and Ted or Rocky Horror), but all of this accompanies a $7 increase in regular single night tickets. More than the normal $5 increase. I want to know how they are going to justify a decrease in the quantity of content juxtaposed with such a sharp price increase. Or will they even try?

People will show up regardless. But I don't think they're just going to lowball everyone like that. I'm sure they found a way to work around everything they're doing in the park. We'll find out soon.

[SeventyOne]

In the HHN team's defense, they've been very good about "shifting on the fly" in the past. Just last year, chainsaws were added when they were initially sparse (chainsaws having become the trademark of HHN to the masses). Death Drums was moved to a new location to better accommodate crowds. A "photo op" was created for Lady Luck when guests couldn't snap a picture with her in her scare zone.

This year does seem to have some curveballs--the lack of an 8th house, the grouping of the houses (if Alice Cooper and P&T prove to be disappointments, there will be almost nothing to draw people across the park), potential issues with scare zones. But HHN seems to adjust to guests needs/wants much better than a certain rat up the street. If these prove to be issues, I trust them to come up with new, innovative solutions.

[LV-426]

1) Crowds and spacing -- Obviously with one less house, that means longer lines for the remaining 7 houses. Will Universal do anything to make up for this? Open more rides, have more shows? Also: the house spacing is currently really screwed up. Instead of having the pretty much perfect spacing that we had in previous years, we now have 4 houses up front, and then a pretty skimpy population around the rest of the park (if you're looking at a map, it's one on the top half, one on the right hand side, and one on the bottom half. That's a lot of park for 3 houses, instead of the usual 5).

2) Roaming Zones -- This is really what scares me. I have faith that Universal will do a pretty good job handling everything else, but as soon as someone mentioned the possibility of roaming zones returning I felt like hitting my head on the table. 2007's attempt at this really stands out as one of the biggest disappointments I've ever seen in my 7 years attending. Few set pieces, fewer actors, and little in the way of lighting led to an almost negligible halloween atmosphere across the park (except for the Central Park area). It felt like you were just walking around USF at night on any normal evening. They barely even turned down the lights. It was a shame too -- that year had the best house lineup of any year I've ever seen. But it'll never be regarded as one of the best years because of the failure that was roaming zones.

The reasons for this are simple enough to understand. Actors play off each other and off their environment for scares. HHN can't pay to have large quantities of actors all over the park -- so naturally, the first issue is that the actors get too spread out and they're just too easy to see coming. HHN also can't pay to theme the whole park, so they attempt to theme it a little all over the place, the end result being that it is themed properly no where. Lacking set pieces, lighting, etc., a scareactor's job becomes a lot harder.

1) Crowds and spacing, what other rides can they open? hopefully Despicable me will be open, I really hope they open it because if they don't that would really suck, but I always wonder what else is there for them to open? I think maybe we will get more shows, I really want to see Rocky Horror come back but I know people hate it, so I wouldn't be surprised if they never bring it back, I wonder if Brian Brushwood is doing anything in October lol, I guess it would be cool if they made a couple of shows.

2) Roaming Zones, I agree with what you said, I wish they did something cool, I know they are good at what they do, but 2007 was awful scarezone wise, I love that year because some of my favorite houses were that year, but the streets really sucked, like you said, it didn't feel like hhn was taking place, and I know people were okay with it Nightmaze but I really didn't like it, it was a mess sometimes, the actors did get me a couple of times, but overall it wasn't a good zone, Im afraid if we get more zones like that,

In the HHN team's defense, they've been very good about "shifting on the fly" in the past. Just last year, chainsaws were added when they were initially sparse (chainsaws having become the trademark of HHN to the masses). Death Drums was moved to a new location to better accommodate crowds. A "photo op" was created for Lady Luck when guests couldn't snap a picture with her in her scare zone.

This year does seem to have some curveballs--the lack of an 8th house, the grouping of the houses (if Alice Cooper and P&T prove to be disappointments, there will be almost nothing to draw people across the park), potential issues with scare zones. But HHN seems to adjust to guests needs/wants much better than a certain rat up the street. If these prove to be issues, I trust them to come up with new, innovative solutions.

actually yes they did a photo op, but those are bad examples, they had to change things because it was becoming problematic, but the changes were not that great, Luck photo op at the entrance felt out of place, the chainsaws, well, I don't know, they had to move things around but it this is what will happen this year is going to be sad, yes those changes were made to accomodate crowds but didn't make the event better, what I mean the changes were made because they had to, but there were still problems,

I don't know, Scarezones are really important to me, I know the houses are amazing and I know they are the big thing, the reason people comebut i wish scarezones were not so undermined sometimes, I know the houses are more important but when the zones are not great or when they are lacking (like last year) I don't know, is like when the scarezones are really good like in 2008 I have better memories of the event overall, even if the houses sucked (and they really sucked like interstellar terror and Bloody Mary) I still loved 2008, I have good memories because I love the environment that the zones create,

[JDW]

In regards to shows and rides.

I do believe Dispicable Me will be open. It's new and they want to show it off. So a scare zone out front has two stikes against it (the other being the parade which is a very safe bet that it will not stop either).

For a show, last year BJ had the Disaster queue routed through it because the Death Drums show used the area behind the gate as a staging area. This year the Parade uses that area as well... So no show in BJ is a safe bet. The Animal Actors is probably not going to happen either if we have scare zones placed over there.

The T2 theater could be theoretically be used without affecting the daytime show (There is still a show in T2!?! ). It was done in Hollywood before.

But... other than a parade, lagoon show, or another street show show like Death Drums (that moves to a location) I can't see us getting another show this year. RHPS cost money for the rights and its hit or miss. I'd rather see them invest in something new... maybe something I'll actually watch

In regards to scarezones. I really can't see why they would do only one scarezone this year with a bunch of roaming SAs. They have at least 5 or 6 (possibly 7 if Shrek Alley is useable) good locations even with without Hollywood BLVD, New York, and Production alley. I still think a Silent Hill Scare zone would be easy in New York without affecting the parade route... so that is possibly 8 locations. Unless there are other considerations (budget, upper management, etc) I just can't see why they would want to do that. Now the roaming rumor has been around... probably since the beginning of spec this year. So maybe a troupe or two of SA's... But that is completely normal.

[Grime]

I personally do not believe Despicable Me will be open. Universal tends to keep attractions open that appeal to that crowd. I just don't feel like it would get a big draw in the HHN crowd. I'm sure all of us would love to ride it, but I wouldn't exactly classify us with the general public.

I'm probably wrong, as it is a new attraction. But that's just my 2 cents.

[JDW]

Well I remember I rode Hanna Barbara back in '97 during HHN (actually it could have been before '97 hard to remember) ... But that was a long time ago. Let me say I HOPE it is open... to divert some of the crowd.

Oh and here is a poster for the upcoming Silent Hill movie

(It's fan made but the clown is from the movie... Part of the carnival)

[Pumpkin]

But really, when it comes down to it, I'm not fretting too much over these house themes. There's some good, and bad, like every year, and the design and actors will be the deciding factor. Similarly, one less house doesn't make me worried.

This is a pretty healthy attitude, in my opinion. Try to keep an opened mind, guys, until you get to walk through the houses and judge for yourselves.

As for our clues and speculation, everyone involved in this community is here, volunterely, because they want to be. Those who know more than most are here to help dirrect our momentum and excitement in the right dirrection. They have just as much invested in the quality of the event as the rest of us, maybe even more since they're the ones actually bringing the yearly espionage straight to the fans, despite the risks.

Now, like a few others have already said, I want to start hearing some theories about what'll be inside these seven supposed houses.

[JDW]

My thoughts on themes for the houses:

P&T - I'm thinking a tour through a twisted magicians mind. I invision old timey stages, and dressing rooms. Cool and gorey illusions. I imagine, based on their caustic personalities, it will be filled with snarky jokes.

Silent hill - A walkthrough based on the upcoming movie. You would have to have the classic Silent Hill sign, ash covered town, The lakeside carnival, the hospital, and possibly the mall. the air raid horn is a must and a trasition effect from the fog world to the other world would be awesome. The nurses, and pyramid Head, and Robbie the Rabbit are a must. Missonary, Valltiel, Insane Cancer... are other possibilites. (hard to say I don't know what's in the movie). The split worm and the closers would be sick!

Gargoyle house - I see this being gothic, cathedral, and possibly raining. I could see the celing mirror Gag (IT and DS) used here. Flyers are a must.

TWD - Scenes from the show... basically that's already been discussed.

Alice Cooper - I going to guess something like HHNH based on one of his albulms. Each room be one of the songs.

Victorian ghost house - I see this being like the Haunted Mansion but more intense.

Dead Exposure house - something like Dead Exposure in style minus the zombies.

[Jakemeister]

If Shrek, Jimmy Neutron and E.T. were open in 2006 and 2007 and The Simpsons has been for every subsequent year than Despicable Me will be open in 2012.

[zombieman]

For those bashing, or that are uncertain about the Alice Cooper house, need to give it a chance. I went to the one in HHN Hollywood, and if the one here in Orlando is as good as its predecesor, then your in for a treat.

I second that. I go to both coasts every year, and trust me when I say that Hollywood presented two houses last year that could have been teleported to Orlando and fit in perfectly - Alice Cooper was one of them. Drop whatever preconceived notions you have about a house based on an aged rocker. The house was nothing like what you would have expected. Very interestingly, his music was not the focus - it was very subtle in fact.

[Goo]

Being a fan of Silent Hill myself, I have to say that I'm excited to finally see Silent Hill come to HHN. I think it's perfect for HHN. I'm also excited to see a DE styled house, since it was one of my favorites from 08 and I thought it was really intense. As for the roaming sz spec, I honestly doubt it. As said before there are enough locations, and I'm pretty sure they were disappointed with them back in 07 just like we were. The main problem they have is that you can't have roaming sets, really.

One thing I'd like to see is maybe some longer zones, or just extended zones. The canyon zone last year was just way to short for me and I believe they could have brought it out more on both sides of the zone to make it better.

[sarah21683]

A hint I've seen here and elsewhere is that the Dead Exposure type house could be a classic (not zombies in the dark, but something else).