JDW ' S reviews

[JDW]

So yesterday was a train wreck for me personally. I had to rush my daughter to the ER because I thought she swallowed a huge magnet. In my haste smashed the lens to my Nikon. Then it rained all freaking night and I really saw almost no one I knew and the ones I did, due to the rain and there being so many people, I really had to keep it short. As a result I saw no scare zones really, handed out no feet, and barely made it to all the houses. (They cut off G&G just 10 people behind me.)

Even with all that, I felt it was a decent first event.

So to get on with it...

AP party was packed even in the rain. I was in line to get in with plenty of time but with the security checks, the futzing around getting the AP bands, and then waiting in a massive line for people to scan their ticket (which being an AP you probably should no which freaking finger you use to scan ) we were walking in as the opening scareimonies were going on.

We walked through Face Off and Bayou not really going but still had a few scare actors even in the rain... which was cool but not near the full effect.

On ti the party.

Roanoke:

My most anticipated house, said 25 min. It was a walk on. The sets were very detailed, the smells were wonderful, and the gags we cool... but it was a cast change and everyone was busy doing that. As a result, nearly zero scares and the finale I really didn't see. So:

Sets 9 of 10

Scares 3 of 10

Overall seems to have amazing potential but I completely missed it.

Next up

Doll House of the Damned.

Wait said 45 min but was a walk on.

Great facade, great details, creative gags, and severely twisted. Great house.

Sets 10 of 10

Scares 9 of 10

Next up:

Halloween

By this time everone is in the park. Stated 60 min wait and it was.

Facade was CooCool but feels sterile in the minute details. Nice projection effects.

Inside. True to the movies. Nice reference to Halloween 3. Creative gags. Sets kinda the same.

Sets 8 of 10

Scares 7 of 10

Overall I'm really not a fan of Halloween. With that not clouding my judgement, it's a decent house but movie forces homogeneous sets and scare actors.

Net we hit Giggles & Gore bit it was closed for "Staffing issues" so we loved on to:

Dracula:Reign in Blood. Wait 45 min we waited a little longer.

Beautiful sets. Felt a little bare scare actor wise... no idea what was going on. There was some fighting and some biting... and a blank white wall... ?

Sets: 9 of 10

Scares: 2 of 10

Overall: some context would help.

Next up:

AVP.

Wait was 75 min and I did wait 75 min. Actually stopped raining for like 20 min. This house blew me away. The aliens unnerved me to no end. Lots of action. The predators a huge and intimidating. Felt the face huggers were a little static especially in the egg room. Need one jumping somehow. The pred cloaking is really cool.

Sets: 9 of 10

Scares: 10 of 10

Overall: I am completely biased but this house was the most nervous I've ever been at HHN.

Next up was:

The Walking Meh... er Dead.

The sets a bigger. The blood is bloodier. The meh is mehier. Seriously this needs to go away. I guess a fan of the show will like going through the scenes of the show. There are a few really bad effects. "Conveyor 'O zombies" and "disco zombies" come to mind.

Sets: 8 if 10

Scares: 3 of 10

Overall: Please oh please stop using this franchise. Seriously. Sthap.

Next:

From Dusk Till Dawn. 25 min wait and we waited roughly that.

Nice sets. Fun feel. Made fairly cohesive sense. Not my favorite but not bad.

Sets: 7 of 10

Scares: 8 of 10

Fibally

Giggles and Gore. Park was closing hoofed it from FDTD to Giggles. 25 min. Roughly that in pretty decent rain. Facade feels like LITC. Reminds me of old school houses. Not funny at all. Gritty. Gory. Interactive.

Sets: 7 of 10

Scares: 8 of 10

Overall: fun and not too short. Neat gags.

No shows. Scare Zones were basically bare minimum. TThat infernal all day rain was horrible but I still had a great time.

[Doctor Cogstein]

I kept looking for you on Friday night, But we never got to the AP zone due to a mix up coming out of Diagon ally. They forced us to be held in a zone near Bill and Ted while the AP zone was already free.

Anyway, great review.

[Arsik_22]

Awesome review JDW! Now I'm looking forward to Dollhouse of the Damned and Giggles and Gore Inc. even more. I wanna experience Orlando's original mazes already, agh 5 more days!

Edited September 21, 2014 by shark23

[ForeverEvil1]

Roanoke:

My most anticipated house, said 25 min. It was a walk on. The sets were very detailed, the smells were wonderful, and the gags we cool... but it was a cast change and everyone was busy doing that. As a result, nearly zero scares and the finale I really didn't see. So:

Sets 9 of 10

Scares 3 of 10

Overall seems to have amazing potential but I completely missed it.

Had the exact same feelings and thing happen to me today. Also, I found amusement in our AVP/Dracula opinions being completely reversed.

Edited September 21, 2014 by ForeverEvil1

[Michaelz]

I'm glad you liked giggles! I guess we'll settle for a 8 out of 10. For now...

[clash]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that wasn't wowed by Walking Dead. I personally kind of hated the house. besides being so long I don't see what the big deal is.
same old zombies as before and same old scare tactics. If this house had come in 2012 then it Would have been surprising. But by now it's such a headache to even have it in the park. this franchise doesn't bring anything new except the different sets

[JDW]

I didn't hate it. But I was rolling my eyes most of the house. There was nothing original ever room was a recreation of the show. That is to be expected but it takes away from any surprise of suspense. Plus... walkers. The sets were immersive and massive. but you can't polish a turd.

[HomemadeHaunt]

Had the exact same feelings and thing happen to me today. Also, I found amusement in our AVP/Dracula opinions being completely reversed.

I've been through Roanoke 5 times and I hit it at the wrong time on Friday night during cast change. You really miss a lot during cast change in that house. But when it's not mid cast change it's great.

You're in Giggles Michael?

[JDW]

In my review I completely forgot the babba yagga scene. Uber Creepy.

As for the second night I wished I could have stayed past the party. No rain!

Roanakoe was much better with the scare. I finally got to see the windeigos and they both got us. My only qualm this time was the smells weren't up and going (was the very first house run through so probably not ready yet)

My scare score bumped up to 7 of 10


Dolls was pretty consistently the same.

As I was leaving I went thorugh Bayou, Face Off, and Masquerade.

Bayou

I had taken my last two feet and attatched them to my lanyard. One of the voodoo girls saw them, gave this blood curdling smile and held up her necklace that had like 10-20 on it. I thought that was awesome. There is one scareactor (who is a great scareactor BTW... oddly i almost run him down with a wheel chair going through TWd last year) who just doesn't fit in the area and he has been there both times. Seems like just bad casting. I mean if you want an old white dude there, at least paint him up with a skull or something.

I really want to see the full effect in this area. I haven't had a chance.

Masquerade

The first night their face were covered with masks and I was fine with this because it was raining. however, the next day when I strolled through. Sure enough same basic red paint around the eyes. Most still fully covered. With the lack of any other props but the candles (Why aren't their billiowing tattered walls on either side of the street?) this is really a let down so far.

Face off has cool makeups but so far just feels like a photo op. Which seven felt to me as well.

[IheartNARWHALS]

Great review. I was trying to find you opening night then realized I have no idea what I was looking for xD I was also blown away by AvP and Dollhouse. Two best houses of the night. But my experience with Roanoke wasn't as great.

Edited September 22, 2014 by IheartNARWHALS

[duh1011]

I also tried looking for you, and mistook another man for you because of the Goonies shirt (whoops!)

[JDW]

HA! I saw him. He was three sheets to the wind when I saw him

[duh1011]

Thankfully, I saw him while waiting for my first house, being TWD, so he didn't have time for that yet

[HomemadeHaunt]

I love it when actors really interact with us. I have some friends scaring throughout the event and they always go out of their way for me and sometimes even acknowledge me. Haha

[Michaelz]

You're in Giggles Michael?

I can neither confirm nor deny that statement, officially.

[HomemadeHaunt]

Yea, I forgot about that Michael...

[ForeverEvil1]

I've been through Roanoke 5 times and I hit it at the wrong time on Friday night during cast change. You really miss a lot during cast change in that house. But when it's not mid cast change it's great.

Trust me, I'm repeating Roanoke come Thursday. The Cast had JUST changed as I got in.

[clash]

they should really make sure the actors are in their place after cast change, Specially if someone is paying 100 bucks and can only see the houses once,

Specially if you get Express and even with Express the actors are not ready. I've always felt that was unprofessional of Universal to do, not give them enough time to get into their places

[HomemadeHaunt]

Trust me, I'm repeating Roanoke come Thursday. The Cast had JUST changed as I got in.

For some reason I am just infatuated with Roanoke. I could go through it 10 times in one night.

[Legacy]

they should really make sure the actors are in their place after cast change, Specially if someone is paying 100 bucks and can only see the houses once,

Specially if you get Express and even with Express the actors are not ready. I've always felt that was unprofessional of Universal to do, not give them enough time to get into their places

Aside from stopping the flow through the house entirely, there is no way to really "make sure the actors are in place." Some scares take a split second to change out and therefore will never skip a beat (I've been lucky with getting when I scare. I went to my spot, tap my tag-out's back, they step to side, I scare around them and they leave. No muss no fuss). The more complicated scares sometimes requiring going through a crawl-space, climbing a ladder, or sliding under something that can only fit one person at a time. Some tag-outs can take over a minute. It's not really something that can be avoided.

I just wish Universal gave their scareactors more actual rehearsal time. They typically only get one night of good rehearsal time (Employee Preview). If scareactors are lucky, they'll have a hundred people go through during a dress rehearsal. Universal really should do an "Internal Rehearsal Night" prior to employee preview where all the houses and zones get to go through the other houses and zones. I guarantee just the extra night of solid, flow rehearsals would make a massive difference on opening night.

[HomemadeHaunt]

You see, the issue with making sure the actors are in their spots is that they would have to potentially stop the line or potentially add more staff to assist. If the actors want to take the initiative to make their house better, then that's all on them. Stopping the line causes for longer waits.

[Cody]

You see, the issue with making sure the actors are in their spots is that they would have to potentially stop the line or potentially add more staff to assist. If the actors want to take the initiative to make their house better, then that's all on them. Stopping the line causes for longer waits.

I can provide info on this because in AWIL last year, I was the guy who had to make you all stop the line!

For Transforming David, the only way to enter and exit the position was to wiggle out from under the fake body and run through a door in the side of the living room set while your counterpart took your place. Because they didn't want to break immersion by having us get up and expose our uncostumed bodies to the guests, ops would close the door to the room to stop the line and let us swap. We had the benefit of our own "internal rehearsal" as we were both brought in before preview so the foam torso could be fitted to us, and we both took the opportunity to practice our change and get into a routine. Charles Gray even timed us and we were able to get it down to less than 30 seconds. Unfortunately, both of us ended up having to leave the role at different times due to the strain it put on us and the Collective guys didn't have that speed.

But I did participate in six other roles in that house, as well as a zombie in the Resident Evil finale. The new cast enters the house while you're still on set doing your thing, and for most actors the first sign you get of cast change is your tagout tapping you on the shoulder or standing in your boohole and you can swap out in less than five seconds. The more complex scares, such as guys on platforms or in holes, take more time and effort. And don't even get me started on stunt positions like the guy jumping between the shelves in the 2011 Thing house.

[JDW]

Final Night Friday (9/26):

Every House was on point. I only missed Halloween. The waits were great:

FDTD 10, Dracula 25, Giggles 30, Roanoke walk on, doll house 15,avp 30, TWD 30

Really I have no complaints about the scares at all. Everyone was really just on point in the houses. Kudos to all house scare actors... Even TWD. I wish I could have seen Halloween again.

I don't care what anyone says. AVP... My all time best house. Never have I been so startled. It may be a personal preference, fear, or whatever. I jumped so bad from the third alien I hit the wall and fell on the floor.

Scarezones:

Bayou of Blood: I REALLY want this to be good. Amazing atmosphere. Zero scares. A few white guys with makeup... Maybe it's wrong for me to want creole and black people in this area but I saw 6 white guys and 2 black guys. Zero women. The shack was completely unused. Such a shame. It was one of my most anticipated elements of the event. I honestly think CP would have been better with atmosphere and creepy music than what I saw.

Face Off: Photo Op... nothing more really

Masquerade: Insane level of energy. The decorations are lacking but the scareactors were off the chart insane. The girl flinging the pointy stick had me a bit worried for my eye at one point.

Purge: Not a fan of the concept or the movie So I didn't have high hopes. Unfortunately It was raining every time I went through. Morphans with weapons IMO. MEH.

Overall Sad about the scarezones.

B&T was decent... because of all the Disney jokes. I didn't get the rest really. But the videos in the beginning are funny of course. The music is too loud and I don't know any of it, it's raunchy and profane and I really... hey! hey you kids get off my lawn! *shakes cane*

Overall I really enjoyed the event solely based on the houses. Wish I had more opportunity to visit without rain.

overall score 8 of 10.

*Missed the mark on merchandise (Too much walking meh), RHPS, The Walking Meh needs to die for ever, Scarezones were a HUGE disappointment for me. The houses carried it for me.

[clash]

Morphans with weapons, hahaha that's funny

[4thdegree]

Your comment about wanting creole/black people in bayou of blood is total lay ok, I agree. That is ACCURATE to the people in Louisiana who practice(d) the very things that this scarezons is portraying in real. The way I see it, they could've gone two ways with the whole bayou idea, it could be the voodoo/witch craft idea (which makes me want black/creole folk in there) or they could've filled it with backwoods rednecks (which I would hope would be filled with slightly trashy looking white people).

However, on my few trips through this zone, I've only seen a few white people, so it seemed kinda balanced to me.