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Halloween Horror Nights 26 Discussion


Mark M.
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1 hour ago, criticalanalysis said:

 

Full review will come in time but I'll summarize. I don't like the direction he took the event in. Sure, Corporate has their say, but their original content is honestly weak compared to how it used to be.

 

* Tomb of the Ancients would be considered an average house compared to years ago

* Ghost Town fell way short of what the original was and was in no way comparable to some stellar original houses in recent years

* Chance's house was outrageously bad

* Lair of the Banshees was awful

* Vamp 1955 was terrific and had seemingly had the lowest budget out of any zone

* Chance ruined her zone with her cheesy talk, the set pieces were static (and weren't kills like I thought they would be)

* Awful party music played throughout

* Express lines becoming awfully long, overly crowded event to the point where in certain sections staff are ushering you around

* Zero memorable music besides Vamp 1955

* Rehasing of New York zone as usual with terrible costumes

* Dead Man's Wharf was GREAT but was so congested and lacked scares

* Roaming hordes were a complete waste of money

* Lighting should be scarier throughout the park

* Extremely bad website

* Hollywood's IP centric event is getting way too much influence here

* In certain houses I totally disagree with their design choices (eg: The Exorcist, while a good house, felt too empty and wasn't "scary" enough, had useless black hallways)

* Holy god why are all the colors so monotone? Their promo shots of the houses look better! Keep it dark but add color, please.

* Chance is a terrible "icon" - she should've been absolutely eerie. 

* No queue videos, again

* Weird facade choices (Halloween 2 poster, Chance's newspaper, AHS just going straight into the basement, TCM's outside felt bare)

* Annoying employees waving lights at you to keep moving god forbid you slowed down in a house for a second

* Outrageous crowds

* No notable increase in event quality for the increased prices

* No front gate facade

* Store was 10x worse than last year

* Why are they wasting money on the dumb dance show?

* The houses actually don't feel detailed enough. Motel Hell at Howl-o-Scream looked incredible this year. Check out Trick of Treat at Knotts Scary Farm. Let alone compared to other local haunts.

* Effects they tried to accomplish looked half assed. 

* Krampus was not very well done compared to what it should've looked like

* Little use of technology

* Continuing with TWD and now it'll be AHS nonsense.

* It didn't feel "adult" like it used to

* Completely devoid of a Halloween feel

 

Much more to come. There is a girl they hired who I believe they put in charge of the scare zones who has consistently dropped the ball the last few years. She has to go.

 

Like I've always said, an ideal event is:

 

* HHN 15's overarching story

* HHN 14's inspiration/atmosphere

* HHN 12's icon

* HHN 18's creativity

* HHN 26's budget

 

I am glad they had a spine and kept firearms in the event, though.

 

 

I agree with 80% of your thoughts. That being said, I had a great time.

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I very much enjoyed HHN when there were few/no IP houses. I thought it upped the creativity and uniqueness that houses had when not having to be confined to an IP.

 

That being said, I think that time is going away and the time of most of them being IP and a few original houses is the "wave of the future". I don't necessarily agree or like this thought process,  I know that it is just kinda how it is. This event is about giving what the most people want and not what a small group of super-fans want. Universal loves and appreciates the super-fan, but can't make a ton of money off of that small group. That is why they will continue to cater to John Q. Public by bringing back the popular IP's (We're on year 43 of Walking Dead, right??), while creating elaborate and beautiful original concept houses that will more appeal to the super-fan.

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That was also the time before/during which HHN Hollywood was in hiatus. It was also two separate entities and had nothing to do with each other. We did our thing and they did theirs...or not.

 

I know this falls under your "Stay out of our business" complaint....but that is one of the reasons they were able to do mostly or all originals/non-IP's without having to answer to anyone.

 

 

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Since I started going, it's been a few originals and mostly IPs. Wouldn't consider this the "wave of the future"; it's more like the current trend. We're six years into this now. 

 

That being said, I thought this year was the best regarding overall quality. A good house is a good house, and this year only one house was bad...and it was an original.  At least all of the scare zones were "originals" and we got our first new icon since 2011. 

 

IMO the event is heading back in the right direction.

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The reason that all of the amazing things that were done in years past (Bloody Mary website, Both Park HHN, Horror-centric Soundtrack, etc) are not as prevalent is because those of us on this forum and who are very involved and in love with HHN are the small minority. Why would you spend a huge amount of time and money on a website (which I think will be my all time favorite website. period.) that slowly and amazingly unrolls the decent into madness of Bloody Mary for a handful of guests? The Joe Schmoe will go to the HHN website to see when the event is and how to/buy tickets. They don't want to spend hours and hundreds of visits to find out the backstory of the icon.

 

Most of today's youth (and society, for that matter) is all about the now and how fast can I get the thing I want. Most don't want to wait two extra seconds to say "Thank You" to my barista who correctly took my 5-pump, extra-hot, no water, grande chi tea latte. That is the society and kind of person that the HHN website is for, not the connoisseur of amazing coffee in a tranquil setting who is there for the ambiance and not the wifi......

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3 hours ago, criticalanalysis said:

Full review will come in time but I'll summarize. I don't like the direction he took the event in. Sure, Corporate has their say, but their original content is honestly weak compared to how it used to be.


Gosh, I REALLY hope Aiello or anyone above him sees your post. Aside from your opinions of the houses and scarezones, where every single person's opinion will differ, I do agree with you on all your operational standpoints. The loss of Roddy and Comcast's takeover has really hurt the event for us "fanboys." But unfortunately, like many people have mentioned, it no longer is about us "fanboys", it's about the general public and the almighty dollar. It is what it is.

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Who else is going to brave the "heavy" rain and "strong" winds on Thursday night at HHN? Obviously none of the scarezones will be in place, but I don't see any reason for them to close any haunted houses besides a possible power outage or leak. Anyone been to HHN in the past during a hurricane?

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11 hours ago, criticalanalysis said:

 

Full review will come in time but I'll summarize. I don't like the direction he took the event in. Sure, Corporate has their say, but their original content is honestly weak compared to how it used to be.

 

* Tomb of the Ancients would be considered an average house compared to years ago

* Ghost Town fell way short of what the original was and was in no way comparable to some stellar original houses in recent years

* Chance's house was outrageously bad

* Lair of the Banshees was awful

* Vamp 1955 was terrific and had seemingly had the lowest budget out of any zone

* Chance ruined her zone with her cheesy talk, the set pieces were static (and weren't kills like I thought they would be)

* Awful party music played throughout

* Express lines becoming awfully long, overly crowded event to the point where in certain sections staff are ushering you around

* Zero memorable music besides Vamp 1955

* Rehasing of New York zone as usual with terrible costumes

* Dead Man's Wharf was GREAT but was so congested and lacked scares

* Roaming hordes were a complete waste of money

* Lighting should be scarier throughout the park

* Extremely bad website

* Hollywood's IP centric event is getting way too much influence here

* In certain houses I totally disagree with their design choices (eg: The Exorcist, while a good house, felt too empty and wasn't "scary" enough, had useless black hallways)

* Holy god why are all the colors so monotone? Their promo shots of the houses look better! Keep it dark but add color, please.

* Chance is a terrible "icon" - she should've been absolutely eerie. 

* No queue videos, again

* Weird facade choices (Halloween 2 poster, Chance's newspaper, AHS just going straight into the basement, TCM's outside felt bare)

* Annoying employees waving lights at you to keep moving god forbid you slowed down in a house for a second

* Outrageous crowds

* No notable increase in event quality for the increased prices

* No front gate facade

* Store was 10x worse than last year

* Why are they wasting money on the dumb dance show?

* The houses actually don't feel detailed enough. Motel Hell at Howl-o-Scream looked incredible this year. Check out Trick of Treat at Knotts Scary Farm. Let alone compared to other local haunts.

* Effects they tried to accomplish looked half assed. 

* Krampus was not very well done compared to what it should've looked like

* Little use of technology

* Continuing with TWD and now it'll be AHS nonsense.

* It didn't feel "adult" like it used to

* Completely devoid of a Halloween feel

 

Much more to come. There is a girl they hired who I believe they put in charge of the scare zones who has consistently dropped the ball the last few years. She has to go.

 

Like I've always said, an ideal event is:

 

* HHN 15's overarching story

* HHN 14's inspiration/atmosphere

* HHN 12's icon

* HHN 18's creativity

* HHN 26's budget

 

I am glad they had a spine and kept firearms in the event, though.

 

I never understand why the hordes get such hate (not just here but everywhere) they are there to fill the dead space, that's it. they are there to make the Simpsons area not feel so empty and dead..... 
how is it a "Waste of money" when they are making a dead area fun to walk around? on FB i saw a lot of hate for the hordes and people saying it was a waste, a waste of what? The cheerleaders are awesome and a lot of fun to watch. Their attitude is great and they are great at working the saw. it's fun to see them work. The Scarecrows are creepy and make the Transformers area better. 
the other points  I can see but the hate for the hordes is ridiculous. the Geishas might not be the best idea but I remember so many of you in here BEGGING Universal to create the Geisha scarezone. (When it was rumored they will have Geishas last year so many of you guys were SO happy about it...) they don't look as cool but they STILL are just filling in a dead area. i really dont get it 

5 hours ago, Vampyr said:

Who else is going to brave the "heavy" rain and "strong" winds on Thursday night at HHN? Obviously none of the scarezones will be in place, but I don't see any reason for them to close any haunted houses besides a possible power outage or leak. Anyone been to HHN in the past during a hurricane?

 

if the Tents flooded with just a little bit of rain from Saturday, I cannot imagine what a full out hurricane will do to the houses. I wouldn't be surprised if they have to close at least 4 houses. (the soundstages flood previous years too)

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There are 31 days of the event. Let's use 1 AM as the closing time and only include when the event opens as the starting time (it isn't, it's earlier for workers). Assume (from what I saw) 3 groups of roaming hordes with 7 people each, so 21 people, and then assume minimum wage in Florida.

 

31 days x 6.5 hr/person/day x 21 x $8.05 = $34,063.575

 

That amount could go to increasing the atmosphere of the park in a better way. Thematically the silly Geishas have no relevance to the park's decor, the event, nor the zones themselves. Culturally it appears out of place.

 

Sure, this was the most varied year we've ever had thematically, and that is a flaw.

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17 hours ago, criticalanalysis said:

 

Thanks! Glad you had fun. Curiously, what did you disagree with?

 

* Express lines becoming awfully long, overly crowded event to the point where in certain sections staff are ushering you around( I went Friday and Saturday of the first three weekends and only one day felt miserably crowded, Friday the 23rd)

* Annoying employees waving lights at you to keep moving god forbid you slowed down in a house for a second( Luckily, I didn't experience any of this and was able to go at a less than conga-pace frequently.)

* Why are they wasting money on the dumb dance show? ( While not my cup of tea, people definitely seemed to enjoy it.)

* The houses actually don't feel detailed enough. Motel Hell at Howl-o-Scream looked incredible this year. Check out Trick of Treat at Knotts Scary Farm. Let alone compared to other local haunts. ( I thought there was some great detail in a few of the houses.)

* Krampus was not very well done compared to what it should've looked like. ( I thought the look and feel of Krampus was great, it was just too short.)

* Completely devoid of a Halloween feel. ( This one I half agree with, but I think that Halloween feels different to different people, and there was definitely some amount of vibe/ambiance.)

 

Edited by N i c k
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8 hours ago, clash said:

* Completely devoid of a Halloween feel

I will say that i agree with this. Compared to last year the traditional Halloween feel fell WAY short. Central park void of any lights.... and why NO PUMPKINS????????? I loved last years psychoscarapy scare zone with the traditional stuff. I wish they did something to that effect every year.

 

***I think is quoted from criticals post not clash's

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17 hours ago, Vampyr said:

Obviously none of the scarezones will be in place, but I don't see any reason for them to close any haunted houses besides a possible power outage or leak.

 

Unless houses flood... or structures/street pieces blow away... or the streets are too dangerous because of 74 MPH winds.

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On 10/4/2016 at 5:05 PM, Tman875 said:

The reason that all of the amazing things that were done in years past (Bloody Mary website, Both Park HHN, Horror-centric Soundtrack, etc) are not as prevalent is because those of us on this forum and who are very involved and in love with HHN are the small minority. Why would you spend a huge amount of time and money on a website (which I think will be my all time favorite website. period.) that slowly and amazingly unrolls the decent into madness of Bloody Mary for a handful of guests? The Joe Schmoe will go to the HHN website to see when the event is and how to/buy tickets. They don't want to spend hours and hundreds of visits to find out the backstory of the icon.

 

Most of today's youth (and society, for that matter) is all about the now and how fast can I get the thing I want. Most don't want to wait two extra seconds to say "Thank You" to my barista who correctly took my 5-pump, extra-hot, no water, grande chi tea latte. That is the society and kind of person that the HHN website is for, not the connoisseur of amazing coffee in a tranquil setting who is there for the ambiance and not the wifi......

Has anyone who complains about how heavy IPs are actually talked to A&D about it? Like, these people gushed about getting to do houses based on An American Werewolf in London or The Exorcist. The enjoy doing original stuff, but they also enjoy getting to make houses based on popular horror properties or their own pet favorites. Even before 2007 made licensed IPs commonplace, they were doing houses like All-Nite Die-In or filing the serial numbers off to do stuff like Run: Hostile Territory (almost a beat-for-beat Hostel house), and afterward you got houses like Interstellar Terror (based on Event Horizon).

 

There seems to be this impression that A&D would love to just do a bunch of crazy original concepts that would blow everyone's mind and are forced to make IP houses under the duress of marketing, who just wants more cash to shove in their pockets. That's really not true. These guys love their horror movies and love being given the opportunity by the owners of those properties to make houses for them.

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16 hours ago, Cody said:

Has anyone who complains about how heavy IPs are actually talked to A&D about it? Like, these people gushed about getting to do houses based on An American Werewolf in London or The Exorcist. The enjoy doing original stuff, but they also enjoy getting to make houses based on popular horror properties or their own pet favorites.

 

I don't mind that. But from what I've heard/seen some IPs have too much creative control over them and it makes execution fall on its face. Not only that, some IPs are simply better for haunts (Halloween, AWIL, Exorcist, Nightmare on Elm Street, Insidious, Texas Chainsaw Massacre) compared to others (American Horror Story, Alien vs Predator, The Walking Dead, Penn and Teller, Alice Cooper, Resident Evil, Dracula: Untold, The Purge). I would be thrilled to design some of the former, not so much the latter, and I highly doubt Creative folks enjoy replicating content compared to creating content.

 

HHN 22 is where IPs started being shoved down our throats. Kind of sucks.

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1 hour ago, criticalanalysis said:

 

I don't mind that. But from what I've heard/seen some IPs have too much creative control over them and it makes execution fall on its face. Not only that, some IPs are simply better for haunts (Halloween, AWIL, Exorcist, Nightmare on Elm Street, Insidious, Texas Chainsaw Massacre) compared to others (American Horror Story, Alien vs Predator, The Walking Dead, Penn and Teller, Alice Cooper, Resident Evil, Dracula: Untold, The Purge). I would be thrilled to design some of the former, not so much the latter, and I highly doubt Creative folks enjoy replicating content compared to creating content.

 

HHN 22 is where IPs started being shoved down our throats. Kind of sucks.

 

You are 100% wrong about AHS.  I know for a fact that A&D were THRILLED to finally get a shot at that one - and there are many of us who are just as thrilled they did. 

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2 hours ago, criticalanalysis said:

 

I don't mind that. But from what I've heard/seen some IPs have too much creative control over them and it makes execution fall on its face. Not only that, some IPs are simply better for haunts (Halloween, AWIL, Exorcist, Nightmare on Elm Street, Insidious, Texas Chainsaw Massacre) compared to others (American Horror Story, Alien vs Predator, The Walking Dead, Penn and Teller, Alice Cooper, Resident Evil, Dracula: Untold, The Purge). I would be thrilled to design some of the former, not so much the latter, and I highly doubt Creative folks enjoy replicating content compared to creating content.

 

HHN 22 is where IPs started being shoved down our throats. Kind of sucks.

 

 

The he ones you used as examples of IPs better for haunts really are not that great, Exorcist, as we have seen, is not ideal, and if you had only seen just the movie AWIL is a terrible film for a house, the only things are non humanoid monsters and a single dream. Purge, and Walking dead are much better for those two in terms of what would make a good attraction with actors jumping out at you.

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I was at HHN for three nights one week ago today and am now safely back in California.  Looks like I picked the right weekend to visit...

Last Saturday the rain hit pretty hard for first half of the night, but nothing like it must be currently.

 

According to the reports, HHN will be CLOSED tonight and tomorrow, hopefully reopening Saturday.

 

Good luck to those of you out there.

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