King_K. Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Designing The Fear posted on FB that SS44 is being torn down tonight. Will we be seeing only 6 houses this year or have a house located somewhere else? I saw that too. Should be taken with a grain of salt though. If it's true, then the easiest solution would be either relocating the house to a soundstage or putting another sprung tent there after the site is clear. That's cutting it a bit close though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parkscope Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 I doubt they're going to put a new house on the levelled land. They wouldn't be rushing to knock this down if they didn't want to get cracking right away on its replacement. If they're relocating the house it'll move to another soundstage. I'd hope that's what's happening. A 6 house event is not something I'd be looking forward to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakemeister Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 They'll do something because they'll have to. I'm kind of excited, it's going to really make them have to think and come up with new ideas, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially since they've been using the same formula for quite some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teach Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 (edited) So this is all very interesting to say the least... here is a thought... Maybe Uni started the ground work for the HHN house and scrapped it due to the bad condition of SS44. The demolition has to take place asap in order for something to be salvaged in time for HHN. Uni rushes to build some type of structure in the SS44 spot to be able to use it for HHN. Maybe SS44 was in such deporable shape that it had to be scrapped after the HHN crew started work and found out the place was crumbling. I'm definately not in the know... but it seems silly to leap frog the rumored Gringots construction to start a rumored Transformers ride. Also doing all this construction so close to HHN, Despicable Me opening and summer peak attendance isn't smart imo. Some things are not meshing or adding up to me. Seems to me that SS44 was a big hiccup for Uni and HHN planning. Also, how long in advance must a permit be filed before construction takes place? Maybe we might see a secondary location pop up to compensate for SS44. Just my 2 cents. Edited June 18, 2012 by Teach 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimp0nd Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 So this is all very interesting to say the least... here is a thought... Maybe Uni started the ground work for the HHN house and scrapped it due to the bad condition of SS44. The demolition has to take place asap in order for something to be salvaged in time for HHN. Uni rushes to build some type of structure in the SS44 spot to be able to use it for HHN. Maybe SS44 was in such deporable shape that it had to be scrapped after the HHN crew started work and found out the place was crumbling. I'm definately not in the know... but it seems silly to leap frog the rumored Gringots construction to start a rumored Transformers ride. Also doing all this construction so close to HHN, Despicable Me opening and summer peak attendance isn't smart imo. Some things are not meshing or adding up to me. I'm in total agreement with you here, something just doesn't add up. If its just for an attraction what's the rush? It's not the way they usually operate and if it's just for an attraction it's shows gross mismanagement between Creative and A&D. I just find it hard to believe that Universal would be that lax and unprofessional. I have a theory but I'm going to put it in the speculation thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jimmy Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 SS 44 was not demolished to make way for a haunted house. Creative went ahead with the demolition without A&D's knowledge. Creative is at the Executive level and can make command decisions like this. A&D is like a part of Entertainment and has really very little power. They design the event but they do not run it at all. Nobody involved with A&D had any clue that the building they had planned a house for was coming down. Fake productions certainly were surprised when they were told to get out and tear down what they had already built of the house. I think it's a very safe bet that right now the folks at A&D are still trying to figure out what exactly they are going to do and how they can expect to accomplish it. They may not even have decided whether or not they are even able to complete a 7th house much less figure out where it could go. Hopefully all of this will be resolved and sorted out in time for any new ideas they come up with to be implemented. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimp0nd Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 SS 44 was not demolished to make way for a haunted house. Creative went ahead with the demolition without A&D's knowledge. Creative is at the Executive level and can make command decisions like this. A&D is like a part of Entertainment and has really very little power. They design the event but they do not run it at all. Nobody involved with A&D had any clue that the building they had planned a house for was coming down. Fake productions certainly were surprised when they were told to get out and tear down what they had already built of the house. I think it's a very safe bet that right now the folks at A&D are still trying to figure out what exactly they are going to do and how they can expect to accomplish it. They may not even have decided whether or not they are even able to complete a 7th house much less figure out where it could go. Hopefully all of this will be resolved and sorted out in time for any new ideas they come up with to be implemented. It doesn't matter if Creative is above A&D it doesn't change the fact that if two different departments cannot liaise between each other at Universal then that is an embarrassment of epic proportions. Let's not forget that they start work on planning this years event while the last one is still running. You're telling me that A&D don't give regular reports to those upstairs about the plans and ideas they have? I know that's not true because they have to be approved. I just don't see how this could be a last minute surprise, the house locations would have been decided and approved by upstairs months ago. This just makes no sense to me, it all seems so...unprofessional. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foREVer56 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 (edited) It doesn't matter if Creative is above A&D it doesn't change the fact that if two different departments cannot liaise between each other at Universal then that is an embarrassment of epic proportions. Let's not forget that they start work on planning this years event while the last one is still running. You're telling me that A&D don't give regular reports to those upstairs about the plans and ideas they have? I know that's not true because they have to be approved. I just don't see how this could be a last minute surprise, the house locations would have been decided and approved by upstairs months ago. This just makes no sense to me, it all seems so...unprofessional. i think what it is is that the demolition has been known among everyone for a while, but Creative thought it'd better to be done sooner. they couldve planned on doing the house then demolishing it. The demo has probably been known and approved for a while now. Look at those 2 buildings in LC they're demolishing for the Hogwarts Express. Those permits were pulled months ago and they haven't even started. Creative could've made the decision as to when a week or 2 ago for all we know. This was definitely a hasty decision by Creative. If A&D knew about the demo date beforehand (which i assume was set after HHN at the time of designing this year's event) they wouldn't have planned a house for a building being demolished obviously. Edited June 18, 2012 by foREVer56 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakemeister Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 I assure you Universal Creative knew about Halloween Horror Nights and knew a house was going in that location. This isn't on Universal Creative, my guess is that Creative was given the green-light on a Blue-Sky project that they more than likely never expected to get into fruition. Comcast more than likely wanted an intermediate attraction for before the Jaws replacement and gave this the go-ahead last minute and just came up with a time-table. Ultimately, an attraction will churn more profit than a haunted house and when you look at it from that perspective it makes sense to do it now instead of later. The event will survive, and I'm sure it will be great this year. At the end of the day, we'll all go and most of us will enjoy it. Universal knows that HHN turns enough profit annually to keep it around, but they also know that it's a seasonal event and is only around for 6 weeks. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny_p Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Forgive me if I may have missed any discussion on what I'm about to ask I don't recall seeing any talk about it and maybe I'll have answered my own question in the end here. But since this new parade debuted this year are all those new floats a part of the reason why they are not considering using the parade building for a house location anymore? If I remembered right I was under the assumption that building was big enough to hold floats and still house a maze? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jimmy Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 what Jake said, but also there are a lot more factors and who A&D is reporting to this year may be less familiar with standard operating procedures and that's all I can say about that! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Grim Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 (edited) I can safely say that they knew of demolition, but the timeframe probably changed which caused the removal of construction on a ss44 house, if construction did indeed start. Some things are certain, they knew of demo ahead of time, because it is STANDARD BIZ PRACTICE for that type of communication, that being said....last minute changes coming from higher ups in companies is also STANDARD BIZ PRACTICE lol. My friend who now works with Uni used to work for Disney as an imagineer where they have a very similar set up or hierarchy. The communications are always there, but last second change is a constant occurence. I can safely assume, with the degree of profesionalism we have witnessed thus far from our A&D guys, that A&D had a contingency plan if this was to happen. Whether or not that contingency plan is a different location or the death of a house is the question. Lets be serious though guys. Universal could have a 3 HOUSE EVENT and we would all still flock. Seacrest out. Edited June 18, 2012 by Mr.Grim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBungle Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Forgive me if I may have missed any discussion on what I'm about to ask I don't recall seeing any talk about it and maybe I'll have answered my own question in the end here. But since this new parade debuted this year are all those new floats a part of the reason why they are not considering using the parade building for a house location anymore? If I remembered right I was under the assumption that building was big enough to hold floats and still house a maze? This was the case when it was only housing Mardi Gras floats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coast Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 (edited) I think everybody's blowing this up a little too much... It could be that they started constructing the house, ran into some serious trouble that they didn't expect with the structure, and had to get rid of it quickly. I think we'll see some sort of house on the former lot of SS44 and some new attraction in its place, possibly Transformers which wouldn't be a surprise. Also gotta consider that business-wise, a new attraction that can be open all year and bring in even more revenue will always win against a house that operates for 20 nights. My two cents. Edited June 19, 2012 by Coast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jimmy Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 This was the case when it was only housing Mardi Gras floats. Also we should realize the impact the parade will have on scarezone construction. Obviously with a parade happening every day of the event shortly before closing they cannot build elaborate set pieces like we have seen on Hollywood Blvd. for the last three years. Only areas outside of the parade route could be used for anything like that and the alternative is more roaming scareactor type zones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King_K. Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 I assure you Universal Creative knew about Halloween Horror Nights and knew a house was going in that location. This isn't on Universal Creative, my guess is that Creative was given the green-light on a Blue-Sky project that they more than likely never expected to get into fruition. Comcast more than likely wanted an intermediate attraction for before the Jaws replacement and gave this the go-ahead last minute and just came up with a time-table. Ultimately, an attraction will churn more profit than a haunted house and when you look at it from that perspective it makes sense to do it now instead of later. The event will survive, and I'm sure it will be great this year. At the end of the day, we'll all go and most of us will enjoy it. Universal knows that HHN turns enough profit annually to keep it around, but they also know that it's a seasonal event and is only around for 6 weeks. Probably the most rational explanation I've read all day. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakemeister Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Probably the most rational explanation I've read all day. A serious issue is that we tend to not look at things from the stand point of the share holders or investors. When you look at things that way you can really see the logic behind what they're doing. The deconstruction of SS44 isn't some irrational act against HHN, but a completely rational business investment. It sucks looking at things financially, it can even suck the "fun" out of speculation, but when people start to do look at it that way things become a lot less cloudy. Also we should realize the impact the parade will have on scarezone construction. Obviously with a parade happening every day of the event shortly before closing they cannot build elaborate set pieces like we have seen on Hollywood Blvd. for the last three years. Only areas outside of the parade route could be used for anything like that and the alternative is more roaming scareactor type zones. They're not going to shut their new parade down. My theory is that we can expect props to be rolled into place every night before the event and for them to be the sort of prop that is easy for multiple trained technicians to move but hard for 3 or 4 drunken guys to move. On that note, I think it's also safe to say that we won't see these props until we're ridiculously close to opening night. The scarezones (barring they stay in the same locale) in Central Park, Kidzone, Disaster, and Shrek Alley (barring that happens due to SS44) will have stationary props. Expect the zones in New York and Hollywood to have props rolled out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foREVer56 Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 i'd expect them to use Sting Alley again, maybe in place of shrek due to the construction thats probably gonna be happening for a while. walls will probably be up like they are now for the next year or more i'd assume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King_K. Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 i'd expect them to use Sting Alley again, maybe in place of shrek due to the construction thats probably gonna be happening for a while. walls will probably be up like they are now for the next year or more i'd assume. Sting Alley is probably a sure bet, since it's out of the way from everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakemeister Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 They knew of the parade route while planning. Sting Alley is locked in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parkscope Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 i'd expect them to use Sting Alley again, maybe in place of shrek due to the construction thats probably gonna be happening for a while. walls will probably be up like they are now for the next year or more i'd assume. I'd say this year and next year are the only years this construction will be affecting HHN scarezones (depending on how they do this, that is). The construction should be very aggressive, and I'd expect this attraction to be open by HHN 2014. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jimmy Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 I'd say this year and next year are the only years this construction will be affecting HHN scarezones (depending on how they do this, that is). The construction should be very aggressive, and I'd expect this attraction to be open by HHN 2014. I'd say that's a very accurate guess about the timetable for the new attraction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dark_orphan Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 I'm just going to put my two cents in, and feel free to move this to the speculation thread, but if other HAUNTS can create houses in hotels and restaurants then doesn't Universal have endless options for house locations? aka...Monsters Cafe...etc... Just an idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jimmy Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 I am quite sure options are even now being considered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakemeister Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 I'm just going to put my two cents in, and feel free to move this to the speculation thread, but if other HAUNTS can create houses in hotels and restaurants then doesn't Universal have endless options for house locations? aka...Monsters Cafe...etc... Just an idea. I am quite sure options are even now being considered. Universal has used a restaurant as a house location, used multiple attractions, and outdoor areas. If they made houses work in Thunderfalls Terrace, Discovery Center, Poseidon's Fury, and The Bone Yard than it's completely plausible for one to be used in Cafe La Bamba or Monster's Cafe. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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