HHN 25 Discussion

[clash]

 

The reason they fail is because budget can only be allotted to so much. If they have 9 houses they will give the largest money to houses they think will be draws, and the least to others. It's a sad situation now where they're almost forced to have money go to the IPs. If they put their money all to originals you'd see equal quality among them all.

yeah that's what I was wondering, it does kind of feel like original houses used to be scarier or just "better" before, but recently they are not that impressive, Budget could definitely be the reason for this.

[Itsjosie]

Ever get any looks from the actors when taking the coins?

None at all, In fact they didn't even acknowledge me after I yelled to my friends about finding another coin.

[Legacy]

None at all, In fact they didn't even acknowledge me after I yelled to my friends about finding another coin.

The coordinators, from what I'm hearing, don't know where the coins are coming from. Which means the scareactors don't know either. Besides, good scareactors are more interested in scaring.

[MissBA]

Actors won't break character over something as trivial as someone finding a coin.

I found one in Asylum on the UTH tour and asked if I could take it and the guide started talking about the history of the coins but no one knows who's leaving them behind but they are totally OK to take as they aren't part of the houses (if they were they'd be nailed or glued down).

[clash]

None at all, In fact they didn't even acknowledge me after I yelled to my friends about finding another coin.

The coordinators, from what I'm hearing, don't know where the coins are coming from. Which means the scareactors don't know either. Besides, good scareactors are more interested in scaring.

getting kind of creepy now  might start some kind of urban legend (the ghost of a hhn fan that leaves haunted coins behind) or something haha

[King_K.]

Mike Aiello will be at the Scareactor Dining Experience answering guest's questions tomorrow and on the 21st.

Should be a great time for anyone attending those two days. They've also added three additional days to the Dining Experience calendar that are open to all guests with an HHN ticket.

Edited October 14, 2015 by King_K.

[Eckert]

Mike Aiello will be at the Scareactor Dining Experience answering guest's questions tomorrow and on the 21st.

Should be a great time for anyone attending those two days. They've also added three additional days to the Dining Experience calendar that are open to all guests with an HHN ticket.

Someone ask about those coins. It's driving me crazy. There's no way someone could've hoarded enough of them to place them all over the park every night, right?

[Ecto_Freak]

They got boxes of those coins in the offices, again a whole bunch are next door at IOA

[Doctor Cogstein]

Isn't it every night the team leads and other universal staff go through a house before it opens to make sure everything inside is good to go?

That would be the perfect time to leave coins assuming each of the universal staff has one to place down.

[SeventyOne]

Not to kill the mystery, but coins being left by a random fan. "Inherited" a box of them after the parade was discontinued, has apparently been doing this for a couple years, not sure why it blew up this year.

[Legacy]

Not to kill the mystery, but coins being left by a random fan. "Inherited" a box of them after the parade was discontinued, has apparently been doing this for a couple years, not sure why it blew up this year.

That would explain it. Because coordinators are picking them up at the end of the night with no knowledge of where they're coming from.

[JDW]

They are all over the Sinbad stage

I have several myself. At least one from each year. But yeah I'm sure just someone doing it.... There are a lot of weird "traditions" done by fans.

[MissBA]

Not really a review but I went through 3 houses in about an hour recently. 

The house ops were pretty quiet. I only heard one mumble and I do mean mumble to keep moving. I saw a lot of them in Insidious standing in very obvious spots (right in front of an important effect that's at the end of a certain hallway..hehem....) and Purge they were also noticeable but in Body Collectors they were well hidden I don't remember seeing but maybe one.

It was late so it's hard to tell if they got spoken to about pulling everyone out of the experience by their demands to keep moving or if they were too tired to care by that point. So maybe things will be getting better?

[foREVer56]

An update on wait times. From what I've seen so far (I check the app every day/have been there quite a few nights), the highest wait times for each house so far have been:

FvJ: 150

Insidious/Purge/TWD: 140

Asylum: 100

M&M/Body Collectors: 90

RUN: 80

AWiL: 65

As I suspected, lines aren't as bad as last year, partly due to having a 9th house, and also due to a strong house lineup. Last year every single house save FDTD hit 120-180, and this year only 4 have gotten above 120, and none to 3 hours. When people hear most/all houses are great, they won't go to only the major IPs.

Also, AWiL's performance this year SHOULD make them think twice on bringing back exact repeats, especially really recent ones. The house is 20 min or less by 12 on the busiest of nights, and on most nights is 10 min or less by midnight. 

[Dead Inside]

An update on wait times. From what I've seen so far (I check the app every day/have been there quite a few nights), the highest wait times for each house so far have been:

FvJ: 150

Insidious/Purge/TWD: 140

Asylum: 100

M&M/Body Collectors: 90

RUN: 80

AWiL: 65

As I suspected, lines aren't as bad as last year, partly due to having a 9th house, and also due to a strong house lineup. Last year every single house save FDTD hit 120-180, and this year only 4 have gotten above 120, and none to 3 hours. When people hear most/all houses are great, they won't go to only the major IPs.

Also, AWiL's performance this year SHOULD make them think twice on bringing back exact repeats, especially really recent ones. The house is 20 min or less by 12 on the busiest of nights, and on most nights is 10 min or less by midnight. 

Yeah, I'm going to be surprised if they do another repeat house next year.

[Legacy]

Here's the thing, though. Wait times aren't a good indicator of actual popularity. So many factors, on top of sheer numbers, affect wait times. The two greatest impacts on wait time doesn't include people: it's house length and "speed."

A short, "fast" house that people can quickly go through (typically brighter houses) will have shorter waits than a long dark house. The scares themselves impact this. Do they scare forward or back? Most of the AWIL and AiW scares push people forward, speeding up the house. Body Collectors, M&M and Insidious appear to have a couple of vicious backward scares that slow the line (Cindy). Also, if the cast isn't scary, the house speeds up.

Total numbers (which we don't see) and polling (which we don't see) are the only true indicators of popularity. If wait times really mattered, then black-out houses like Fear Factor and Cold Blind Terror would a yearly occurrence since those always had inflated wait-times.

[MissBA]

Houses with short wait times are great to have. 

I've seen Run have a 5-10min wait the majority of the night on a weekend. (I already know most fans don't feel this house well). But shifting to a "I had to fly down here and spend thousands of dollars to come to this event" perspective. I would probably really appreciate any house with a short wait regardless of if it delivered in scares or not. It gave me something to do that didn't take an hour. 

I hit up purge, insidious, and body collectors all together in under an hour before. Doesn't mean they aren't popular because they certainly are. I overhear a lot of positive feedback from the purge. Not everyone knows the scream fiasco, if it wasn't for this forum I wouldn't have known or even noticed it. I hear a lot of great things about how creepy insidious is and how beautiful body collectors is yet I still managed to do them all in under an hour without express because the timing was right.

[foREVer56]

Here's the thing, though. Wait times aren't a good indicator of actual popularity. So many factors, on top of sheer numbers, affect wait times. The two greatest impacts on wait time doesn't include people: it's house length and "speed."

A short, "fast" house that people can quickly go through (typically brighter houses) will have shorter waits than a long dark house. The scares themselves impact this. Do they scare forward or back? Most of the AWIL and AiW scares push people forward, speeding up the house. Body Collectors, M&M and Insidious appear to have a couple of vicious backward scares that slow the line (Cindy). Also, if the cast isn't scary, the house speeds up.

Total numbers (which we don't see) and polling (which we don't see) are the only true indicators of popularity. If wait times really mattered, then black-out houses like Fear Factor and Cold Blind Terror would a yearly occurrence since those always had inflated wait-times.

This is all true and I agree. Sheer number of people in line plus express also inflates wait times. Insidious is a longer, dark, creepy house, and the line crawls because of it. RUN is fast paced and not very scary, so the line moves quickly. Ive gotten stopped for a solid minute in M&M several times and once in FvJ, so you're right about that one. 

However, my point with AWiL still stands. In 2013 it was that long, slow moving line because it was very popular and scary. I got held up behind people unwilling to move more times in that house than in any other house I've ever beeb in. However, this year it is NOT the case. There's been scares taken away, and it is not being viewed as popular or as well as 2013. When every single house still has a 15-75min line and this is a literal walkon, that tells me this house is not being received as well as they'd like when you compare it to the queues of 2013. 

 

I'd love to see poll ratings, see which houses are being viewed as best-worst on the whole. I'm willing to bet M&M, Insidious and FvJ are highest, RUN, TWD and honestly AWiL are lowest. Purge, BC, and AiW all seem to be very well received as well. TWD will have fans of the show/easy scares/first timers to back it up, but it seems to be the least liked TWD house ever. RUN is fun but for most people its just not that good. 

[Primusjim]

We are having so much fun at hhn this year! Already fearing the end. On sunday the 11th we saw the band Failure at the House of Blues and since the show ended at 11:30, we headed to Universal. Got in the front gate at midnight and managed to hit five houses before the 2am closing. This past sunday (the 18th) we again had all night to enjoy ourselves. It did seem like the team members in the houses in the black shirts were making some effort to be less in the way, which is good. Now if we could get them to stop with the "hurry up" hand gestures while you are basically already dry humping the person in front of you, that would be great.

I just look at American Warewolf in London as a bonus house. If universal gave us eight new houses and one re-do of one of the best houses from the past, from now on, I'll be ecstatic. Yes, two years was way too short a period to bring back and old maze, and yes, it's not quite as good as the first go around, but it is still an incredible house. Especially since we recently just rewatched the movie. Give me another chance to go through the original Screamhouse or Silver Screams again (or in several years, Halloween), yes, Please!

I just ordered the "Halloween Horror Nights: The Unofficial Story and Guide 2015" book by Christopher Ripley from amazon. Has anyone else gotten this? I tried searching the forums, but came up empty.

[YouDontKnowJack]

I just ordered the "Halloween Horror Nights: The Unofficial Story and Guide 2015" book by Christopher Ripley from amazon. Has anyone else gotten this? I tried searching the forums, but came up empty.

I have the book. It's great! I learned a lot more than I thought I would from it. It's totally worth the money.

On another note, I was able to make it through all nine houses (without express!) in about an hour on Friday, October 16 and in about two hours on Saturday, October 17. Staying in the former Lucy holding area may have helped a bit, but it was great. I then went back with my express pass and was able to give my favorites another go.

Edited October 20, 2015 by YouDontKnowJack

[Pandry]

On another note, I was able to make it through all nine houses (without express!) in about an hour on Friday, October 16 and in about two hours on Saturday, October 17.

Daaaaaamn son, that's crazy!  It typically feels like an hour's walk for me just getting over to all 9 houses.

On a separate note: How was it for those who went this past Saturday and/or Sunday night?  With Miami Thug Night on Sat. and UCF Night on Sunday I heard it was pretty awful, especially for the scareactors.

[Doctor Cogstein]

Daaaaaamn son, that's crazy!  It typically feels like an hour's walk for me just getting over to all 9 houses.

On a separate note: How was it for those who went this past Saturday and/or Sunday night?  With Miami Thug Night on Sat. and UCF Night on Sunday I heard it was pretty awful, especially for the scareactors.

UCF night was sunday? I was thinking of going Sunday, but something in the back of my mind said not to. I'm happy I decided not to go then.

[Pandry]

UCF night was sunday? I was thinking of going Sunday, but something in the back of my mind said not to. I'm happy I decided not to go then.

My friend works in the Icons zone and said it was awful.  Fools knocking over stilt actors, some actors getting pushed/punched in the face.  Lots of arrests and trespassing.  Such a shame.  These are the things we take for granted for all you scareactors.  Don't really see the level of idiocy you have to put up with.

[MissBA]

I saw someone firsthand who thought it was funny to yell in an actors ear as to "frighten them" I think there's even a video of the same situation but with an icons scareactor somewhere where someone thought it was funny to try to make the actor "jump". Sure they might get startled; anyone who gets someone yelling in their ear would be. However as a guest; you pay to be scared. Trying to "scare" the actors just makes you look like a grade A jerk and then some. 

 

On an unrelated note.... HHN Hollywood has been extended.... Now to wait and see if Orlando follows suit. 

[GODFATHRxx]

Heading up Saturday for my annual pilgrimage to HHN. A few questions though(please don't make me search. Lol) 

1) is there still a holding pen by finnegans?

2) what app are you all using to see wait times? I downloaded the USO app, but only see ride times. 

3) my girlfriend doesn't believe me about the rat lady. Where/when are the best chances of seeing her?

4) are the Harry Potter rides open during the event( taking a potter fan who hasn't seen the area)

i lurk all year- thank you all for keeping me excited, and have a great day!

-c