HHN 22 Discussion

[Parkscope]

What are these "fundamental flaws"? I know a lot of the street actors were following a camera crew around last night as well. Plus, the street staff wasn't at full capacity last night from what I gather on the inside. The only complaint I'm seeing is that people prefer the set scare zone concept over the roaming concept. That's not a flaw, but a matter of taste.

I guess I just have confidence that most of the bigger issues will be fixed early on.

Exactly. I don't discredit the reports from last night. But until the end of next weekend, I'm not going to panic.

[SeventyOne]

What are these "fundamental flaws"? I know a lot of the street actors were following a camera crew around last night as well. Plus, the street staff wasn't at full capacity last night from what I gather on the inside. The only complaint I'm seeing is that people prefer the set scare zone concept over the roaming concept. That's not a flaw, but a matter of taste..

Too few actors covering too big a space, and lack of set pieces would seem to be the big ones. The reason people are saying they prefer a set scare zone, I think, is because those work better. They focus your attention on the actors, and they "put you in the mood" to be scared. The best example I can give is the vampires. Milling about in front of Twister, they looked too much like goth kids who were just bending the no-costume rule. They didn't register as "scary" until after they had moved in, snarled, and moved on. In, say, a properly themed Shrek Alley with coffins and Victorian facades, I think this troop would have done wonders. But bunched up in the middle of a crowded street they don't stand out enough.

I agree nothing ever measures up to "the golden years." But on FB this morning I saw Universal Entertainment vets with 4 to 10 employee previews under their belt saying basically the same thing. Seems to be a common theme across the various theme park boards, too. I'm not saying this ruins the event, I'm saying as of last night the roaming scare zone experiment isn't really working.

[StewieGriffin]

Too few actors covering too big a space, and lack of set pieces would seem to be the big ones. The reason people are saying they prefer a set scare zone, I think, is because those work better. They focus your attention on the actors, and they "put you in the mood" to be scared. The best example I can give is the vampires. Milling about in front of Twister, they looked too much like goth kids who were just bending the no-costume rule. They didn't register as "scary" until after they had moved in, snarled, and moved on. In, say, a properly themed Shrek Alley with coffins and Victorian facades, I think this troop would have done wonders. But bunched up in the middle of a crowded street they don't stand out enough.

I agree nothing ever measures up to "the golden years." But on FB this morning I saw Universal Entertainment vets with 4 to 10 employee previews under their belt saying basically the same thing. Seems to be a common theme across the various theme park boards, too. I'm not saying this ruins the event, I'm saying as of last night the roaming scare zone experiment isn't really working.

Again, too few actors is more than likely attributed to this being a PREVIEW night. I know for a fact they were not running at full capacity last night. Has anybody ever sat through a movie screening? Say months in advance? It's a jarring sight when you see an entire FX heavy sequence not finished and in its place are animatics or storyboards, representing what will in essence be the finished product. It's really hard to gauge how well the film will turn out in the end. Imagine seeing a screening of Super 8, without the monster being shown at the end. Which I have. Amongst others.

The only common theme I'm hearing, is still bickering because hardcore HHN fans just don't like the fact that Universal has changed things up this year. Nothing said so far makes me think the roaming hordes aren't working. With the Street Experience as large and spread out as it is meant to be, there are bound to be some growing pains. Complaining about costuming and make-up is still just personal taste. I may have a built in bias though when it comes to the vampires. A friend of mine is working on the make-up for them this year. So I digress.

Edited September 20, 2012 by StewieGriffin

[Jakemeister]

This isn't like showing a preview screening, with an unfinished film to find out what fans are responding to. This is more akin to going to the media preview two nights prior to the film coming out so critics can write reviews and so early press can be created.

They do have time to fix things, and things will be fixed but know that the actors out on the street last night were hard cast, they doubtfully will be hiring many more actors. It's flawed, end. If you want to ignore the reviews, feel free, that's your god given right. Just know a lot of us have been positive and still are positive about the event, we just found fundamental flaws and are going to point them out.

[boogeyman13]

This isn't like showing a preview screening, with an unfinished film to find out what fans are responding to. This is more akin to going to the media preview two nights prior to the film coming out so critics can write reviews and so early press can be created.

They do have time to fix things, and things will be fixed but know that the actors out on the street last night were hard cast, they doubtfully will be hiring many more actors. It's flawed, end. If you want to ignore the reviews, feel free, that's your god given right. Just know a lot of us have been positive and still are positive about the event, we just found fundamental flaws and are going to point them out.

Well, to be fair, it would be like going to a media preview where only one of five concession stands were open, and this was the first time they showed the film to any sort of group not directly involved with the film. There also seems to be conflicting reports about whether or not the event was even fully staffed.

I stand by not giving full judgement until you see the event in full swing, which will be Friday. Just being fully open will positively impact or even make moot some of the issues.

[StewieGriffin]

This isn't like showing a preview screening, with an unfinished film to find out what fans are responding to. This is more akin to going to the media preview two nights prior to the film coming out so critics can write reviews and so early press can be created.

They do have time to fix things, and things will be fixed but know that the actors out on the street last night were hard cast, they doubtfully will be hiring many more actors. It's flawed, end. If you want to ignore the reviews, feel free, that's your god given right. Just know a lot of us have been positive and still are positive about the event, we just found fundamental flaws and are going to point them out.

Nobody is ignoring anything. It's flawed, end is a poor argument. What are the flaws? There has been no legitimate reason other than there weren't enough actors on the streets. On a preview night. Which did not have a full cast. And any kind of judgement based on EP Night fundamentally flawed in the first place. It happens every year. A lot of HHN faithful have been gunning for Universal this year because of the changes. And frankly these are the only arguments I'm seeing.

I stand by not giving full judgement until you see the event in full swing, which will be Friday. Just being fully open will positively impact or even make moot some of the issues.

This.

Edited September 20, 2012 by StewieGriffin

[Tbad556]

Nobody is ignoring anything. It's flawed, end is a poor argument. What are the flaws? There has been no legitimate reason other than there weren't enough actors on the streets. On a preview night. Which did not have a full cast. And any kind of judgement based on EP Night fundamentally flawed in the first place. It happens every year. A lot of HHN faithful have been gunning for Universal this year because of the changes. And frankly these are the only arguments I'm seeing.

There have been quite a few reasons already given. Firstly, "not enough actors in the streets" is a big one in its own. As for some more:

- The lighting: Everyone review I've read has called out how dark the streets are

- The pathways: "This year, there is ONLY ONE PATHWAY... what do i mean? I mean if you want to go to NY, Hollywood, Kidzone, World Expo... you have to go ALL THE WAY AROUND. The entire center of the park is walled off/barricaded. No Shrek Alley. No South Street along the Production Central side of the lagoon. No more quick bypasses to the soundstages or Disaster."

- Terribly disorganized

- Warriors costumes are awful

- "It was often difficult to separate actual crowd from scareactor"

- Streets are too spread out

No one is saying that the event has no way of improving and that this is the worst event year ever. People are just giving their valid opinions on what they experienced last night. No one has a vendetta against Universal for trying something different. They just aren't impressed with the way it was pulled off. I will not be attending until opening night and these reviews aren't swaying my anticipation much and I still have very high hopes for this year's event, but I certainly don't understand the need to undermine them.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Tbad556

[Jakemeister]

The comments are clearly there, I've posted them on this site and other forums. Other users have once more posted why the street experience is fundamentally flawed and if you go back 2 pages in this thread and read and read the thread containing Wesker's review you will once more read multiple comments on why it's flawed. I'm not going to continue to repeat myself and neither should others.

[StewieGriffin]

K.

[Ande]

Now that all of the cons of the event has been posted, what are some pros?

[Mr.Grim]

this guy gets it ^^^^ lol.

Now that all of the cons of the event has been posted, what are some pros?

This guy gets it ^^^^^ lol....dont flame me Im just saying there is not only negative.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Mr.Grim

[Oysterhead00]

Now that all of the cons of the event has been posted, what are some pros?

Yes, how about some HOUSE reviews?

We get that the preview night, which is a dress rehearsal had issues. And the construction, which is out of A&D's control, sucks ass for crowd flow.

And I have to laugh at some reviews about people passing on houses because they had 30min lines...those are the houses we don't even bother to use our Express Passes on (we save them for later when the lines get over an hour). I guess being an employee and how preview nights usually are is a bit different.

Has me a bit scared for the crowds for regular event nights (really thinking TWD is going to increase the lines like we THOUGHT/FEARED Freddy/Jason/Leatherface were going to) and am feeling much better upgrading our Rush of Fear tickets to Express

(Edited to fix quite a few stupid typos)

Edited September 20, 2012 by Oysterhead00

[Tbad556]

You guys realize there are a bunch of reviews and positive aspects of the event in the Reviews thread, right?

[Oysterhead00]

You guys realize there are a bunch of reviews and positive aspects of the event in the Reviews thread, right?

Not trying to start a flame war, but I see Wesker reviewed 3 houses...and HHNGuy did a great review of all the houses. That's about it as far as the houses themselves.

Usually, after EP night, we have dozens of spoiler free reviews that I read (and a hand full of spolier filled ones I avoid) and it seems like nearly 24 hours after the EP started, all we have are complaints about crowds, crowd flows, and arguments over who is complaining too much.

Don't get me wrong, I myself am COMPLAINING about the lack of reviews...so I'm just as guilty. What can I say, I'm a greedy bastard and want reviews

[Ande]

Many people have been concerned about the outrageous house wait times during Ep night. I am assuming that most of the EP ticket holders all gathered at the gate till opening. So when the gates opened with all you surged in, one would assume there would be clogging up of lines, right? I mean on normal nights there should be a nice flow of people entering and leaving.

[Oysterhead00]

Many people have been concerned about the outrageous house wait times during Ep night. I am assuming that most of the EP ticket holders all gathered at the gate till opening. So when the gates opened with all you surged in, one would assume there would be clogging up of lines, right? I mean on normal nights there should be a nice flow of people entering and leaving.

I'm going to go out a limb and guess that it's MOSTLY part of the fact that it's EP night so (almost) everybody was relatively local and wanted to do the "big" houses, coupled with the firedrills, that caused a lot of it. The General Public, for the most part, would probably see 120min waits on peak nights for TWD and go onto something else and stick around to do it after midnight when the lines die down. The fact that Wesker did one house SEVEN times and didn't do any of the "main" IP houses at all kinda leads me to this conclusion. Since I've only ever seen two houses with really super long lines (Saw and something from the Freddy/Jason year that I'm not positive about) I would think that other than TWD and maybe Silent Hill, most of the other houses would less than an hour at the most on most of the nights.

TOTAL SPECULATION ALERT: I would even think that if 5,000 people came through one house and there were no lines at other houses, and the point of EP night is to stress-test the houses and stuff, they might have the firedrills on the popular ones in hopes that people would try out the others. I mean, if there's a 3 hour wait at Walking Dead and nobody in line for 4 of the other houses, they might as well just close up TWD to ensure people do the others. It makes good business sense.

This is all speculation and I could be 100%...wouldn't be the first, nor the last, time that ever happens. We know what they say about opinions....They're like @$$holes, everybody has one, and everybody else thinks it stinks.

And the gates are just security getting into their grove like everybody else....or an off night. We've gone, before we learned about the sneak over from Islands and the holding pen at Finnegans, and gotten through security in 15min on a Sat....and then waited in line for 40 min on a much less crowded Sunday. No real rhyme or reason to it.

[JDW]

It's pretty simple... Be where everyone else isn't. It takes some work but I usually have all the houses knocked out by 8:00 PM on opening night. Towards the end of ROF.. I either don't care anymore and wont wait 40 min and/or the crowds are getting worse and I get irritated with the amount of drunks... I don't always hit them then. but first two weeks I usually hit the house 8 times a piece... ish

[Goo]

This whole "one path" shit is kind of hilarious. Are they really serious about that? Seriously? It's crowded as hell as it is, and the whole having to walk around the whole park to get to things is really annoying. I really hope they get rid of that. The fact they even thought it might work is kind of embarrassing on their side in my opinion.

As for doing houses, I usually do them all by 8 like JW said. I start at the parade building and make my way around the park. It hasn't failed me yet,.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Goo

[King_K.]

This whole "one path" shit is kind of hilarious. Are they really serious about that? Seriously? It's crowded as hell as it is, and the whole having to walk around the whole park to get to things is really annoying. I really hope they get rid of that. The fact they even thought it might work is kind of embarrassing on their side in my opinion.

With construction blocking the only two paths used to cut across the park easily, how in the world would -you- have set it up. Cause speaking logistically, it was the only way to do it. Its not embarrassing in the least. Just cause you personally don't feel like walking doesn't mean it's a badly executed route.

[Goo]

With construction blocking the only two paths used to cut across the park easily, how in the world would -you- have set it up. Cause speaking logistically, it was the only way to do it. Its not embarrassing in the least. Just cause you personally don't feel like walking doesn't mean it's a badly executed route.

From the way I read what people were saying it sounded like they were purposely blocking paths. I haven't actually been to the parks since last October, so I have no idea what the construction even looks like. That was my bad. And I personally don't have a problem walking. It just sounded like they were just trying to push the horde idea and limit the walking space so people stayed in their path. Which, if they actually did do that (not because of construction) would be really stupid to me.

[CoreySalyer]

Wait a second...What about the path where T2 and Lucy Plaza and such are?! (Can't think of the name of it...but the path where '7' was last year). Why is that blocked off? Doesn't make sense...

[Chef]

...It's not.

[LV-426]

So this year's streets suck?

.......

is funny I always defend IP houses, and IP years, but it is starting to feel to me that IP years always end up sucking, at least street wise,

maybe the people that hate IPs are right, all along

Edited September 20, 2012 by Mr. Black

[CoreySalyer]

Then what the heck is everyone complaining about?! They made it sound like the ONLY way you could go is clockwise around the park following only one direction....

[Amber]

Then what the heck is everyone complaining about?! They made it sound like the ONLY way you could go is clockwise around the park following only one direction....

The path where 7 was last year is the only path around the park. So, if you're coming from, say B&T, instead of cutting through Amity or down Shrek Alley you have to walk around through hollywood to get to, let's say, Disaster. It just makes for longer walking time.

(That was explained poorly, I apologize.)

It's better explained with visual representation or seeing it at the park yourself. Simply put, there's just a lot of construction fences up through main walking parts of the park that make traveling from one end to the other a pain in the ass, if you hate walking.