Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood 2018 Speculation

[wow]

10 minutes ago, Barbie06 said:

I have a theory that he is leaving physically but will still have a role in the development of 2018. I don't think the event would turn out well if he just up and left and passed the torch to a newbie lol 

 

They’re most likely bringing someone over from Orlando’s team to run the event now.

[dereksdominance]

I just wish the same 5 properties weren't the only ones in speculation/ consideration. Yes Stranger Things, IT, Trick r Treat, Blumhouse, AHS, etc each have valid reasons for maze development but at the same time I'd really like some unique mazes like The Hills Have Eyes, Standalone Alien or Predator, and have one Universal Monster maze per year similar to AHS, like Frankenstein next year, Wolfman  year after that. Original mazes will be a saving grace if we get the fan favorites we have been requesting over and over for years because it will be so unexpected ad unpredictable. Just my opinion but I'm getting worn out by these properties and we haven't even had them be developed into mazes yet! 

[hgwy407]

I'm all in for a Wolfman maze!

[djevilclown]

So do we have confirmation about johns last year. If so my guess Mike Aiello will be taking over. He's been in Cali for half of October. 

Edited November 6, 2017 by djevilclown

[Miller]

19 minutes ago, djevilclown said:

So do we have confirmation about johns last year. If so my guess Mike Aiello will be taking over. He's been in Cali for half of October. 

 

No confirmation, yet.

[Sheev4Senate]

Honestly after this year, sad to say, Murdy needs to go. Did not like the event aside from a couple of houses. It really doesn't feel like his heart was in it this year.

[DTH316]

1 hour ago, Horrorisprettyrad said:

Unpopular opinion, but I really wish that early entry wouldn't be so, well, early. At 5:00 on most nights, the sun hasn't even set yet. Sometimes they'll even let you in earlier! Leaking sunlight can straight up ruin a maze, and this year, getting your eyes adjusted to black hallway city was a complete nightmare.

I think it just depends on the mazes they open. For example, Insidious under no circumstances should've been open for Early Entry. The maze is literally not the same during day time. That, or put an actual roof overhead. However, Saw and Roanoke were fine. I think the event needs to start at 5, otherwise, I don't think I'd get to finish all the mazes in one night, and as it is, I have to do it under extreme stress and worry. I feel legitimately sorry for the people actually showing up at 7. They just have no clue of the hell they're walking into when half the lines are already an hour and a half long. They don't get to finish all the mazes, for sure. So the 5 PM early entry at least gives us a fighting chance.

 

Personally, I love that eye adjustment to make the mazes even darker and I have no idea where the hell I'm going when scenes are supposed to be dark, they're actually DARK, and makes some of the scares hit way harder. My run thrus of TWD: Wolves Not Far were amazing for that reason.

[StraightEdge]

Damn, HHN 2017 is over

But I’m really hoping for a standalone Predator maze. Next year a Predator film is being released in August, so I hope they take advantage of that.

 

We need a Frankenstein Meets The Wolf-Man maze!!

 

But wait, next year’s event won’t have the terror tram?

[HHN_.1116]

Speculation 2018:

Waterworld Queue: The Conjuring

TWDA: TWDA

Paraisian Courtyard: Trick r Treat

JP Queue: Halloween 2018

Munmmy Venue: It

Metro Sets: Stranger Things

Metro Sets 2: AHS: Cult

747 Tent or SS: Clowns 3D Sequel

Terror Tram: Hollywood Harry returns and where he has help from various movie clowns to start chaos in the backlot along with his own batch of killer clowns

Could be the year of clowns, could be a greatline up since clowns are scary to 2/3s of the population

Probably 1/3 might be right but its speculation

Edited November 8, 2017 by HHN_.1116

[DTH316]

7 hours ago, Horrorisprettyrad said:

I actually had the hardest time with saw. It was the first maze of the night (or day, I guess), and for the life of me I couldn't tell what direction was the right one. Wasn't scared, more so frustrated that I kept on smashing into walls and almost walking into actors because of non existent lighting. I think universal needs to let people in maybe a half hour before opening for early entry, that could solve wait times exceeding 2 hours before the park opens. 5:00 early entry is just ridiculous. Also, stressing out over a plan to just getting to see everything shouldn't even be a worry, universal knows their crowds and should cut back on selling tickets (which I know they never will, because of all that sweet green molasses).

Actually, Early Entry used to be 6:30 (maybe about 2 -3 years ago?) and they still had the same problem, if not worse, with lines getting upwards to 2 hours right away. I think changing it to 5 was to counter that. And instead of 2 hours right away, now it's an hour to an hour and a half lines right at 7, which is a bit better haha.

[Jediwhit82]

Why doesn't Hollywood just do some sort of stay and scream like Orlando?

[Barbie06]

On 11/8/2017 at 7:43 AM, Horrorisprettyrad said:

I actually had the hardest time with saw. It was the first maze of the night (or day, I guess), and for the life of me I couldn't tell what direction was the right one. Wasn't scared, more so frustrated that I kept on smashing into walls and almost walking into actors because of non existent lighting. 

That was me in AHS, I walked right into a wall and had no idea where to go! That was about 5:45 pm. After that maze I said for  future years I want to wait until 7. I think it's great they have early entry for those on a time restraint. But personally I would wait until it gets dark, just makes it less frustrating 

[zombieman]

On 11/6/2017 at 2:09 PM, Sheev4Senate said:

Honestly after this year, sad to say, Murdy needs to go. Did not like the event aside from a couple of houses. It really doesn't feel like his heart was in it this year.

 

I've been wanting Murdy to go for quite a number of years.  That's primarily because of how much better Orlando's version is with few exceptions.  Much of what Hollywood presented this year belonged Fright Fest, not HHN.  I did not like Hollywood's event AT ALL this year.  Decided not to take my daughter for her first HHN experience because it sucked so bad.  I had the Frequent Fear pass so I went a total of three nights.  Each night was deserted, so I finished everything by 8:00 PM each night but had no desire to do anything a second time.  Was desperately hoping each time that previous house runs were just unlucky.  Nope.  They just sucked.  If work hadn't been so busy, I'd have been on a jet plane for a second trip to Orlando at the end of October.

 

If Hollywood got Mike Aiello or Michael Roddy, you'd be amazed at what you would see.  Heck, I'd be stoked if they were able to get Gus Krueger.

 

 

So, my speculation is that based on the terrible attendance this year, Murdy is out.  Furthermore, because the original houses in Orlando got such stellar reviews from the GP, we will begin to see originals in Hollywood.  And I also predict we get fewer houses next year, but the same or higher budget to make those houses a better experience.  In other words, I see big positive changes for HHN Hollywood.  

 

 

[happy bunny rabbit]

13 hours ago, zombieman said:

So, my speculation is that based on the terrible attendance this year, Murdy is out.  Furthermore, because the original houses in Orlando got such stellar reviews from the GP, we will begin to see originals in Hollywood.  And I also predict we get fewer houses next year, but the same or higher budget to make those houses a better experience.  In other words, I see big positive changes for HHN Hollywood.  

we can only hope, there is no certainty

[Grindhousehero13]

On 11/5/2017 at 2:10 PM, Barbie06 said:

Anyone know why Hollywood doesn't do more original themes like Orlando does?

Murdy says he perfers Hollywood doing IP being a studio themed theme park since Orlando was trucking since the 90s they didn’t really rebrand themselves even though it’s about 50/50 now Hollywood came back with the second year being the year that Uni pulled the big 3 or “Titans” as they are now called contract with New Line Cinema so murdy just decided on making Bringing horror movies to life being Hollywood’s gimmick 

[Grindhousehero13]

Okay is there reason people are saying Murdy is leaving or is it another “I didn’t like this year so it must be his last year” schtick we been pull since 2011? 

 

Honestly I don’t believe it’s 100% Murdy fault this year was not great. 

 

Budget is not Murdy’s job he is a creative director he just deals with the money he is given. 

 

Construction years kinda always a buzzkill for the event. But that can’t be helped. 

 

Its way too late to hop off the ip train for both parks I’m sorry but like death and taxes it’s unavoidable plus just cuz Orlando had originals does not mean we are changing anything or it would of happened years ago. 

 

In my opinion these are the things that need to be addressed 

 

Jabawokkeez- I know I hate on them but in all seriousness they need to go... why? ever noticed how much they push them down our throats on social media, maps, billboards? Hell they basically yell at your face up until 15 minutes into the show that seats are available. Why do they receive top billing? Because a good chunk of HHN budget goes to them. Unlike Bill and ted, Rocky Horror or even Academy of villains they are a Vegas act. Also unlike most shows HHNH has done they do not have alternate cast the same guys play every night roughly 5 or so shows. That’s impressive but not cheap. I have friends at Uni and the rumors are they take a good percentage of budget. 

 

Scarezones- I get why the lower lot and London and French street zone have been gone in the past but what I noticed this time was there was absolutely zero reason for the SZ to not be present anymore. The lower lot scarezone was cut in 2015 because of The Walking Dead maze being placed in the Transformers extended queue So it would made a bad cluster but a maze has not been there since and up stairs last year they were afraid the Walking Dead attraction would spill into London but was not case from what I saw at least. 

 

Holding onto  to the past- this is Uni’s problem when they are in a pinch they rely on past success to save them. Which is why this year was an accidental anniversary year. 

 

[dereksdominance]

1 hour ago, Grindhousehero13 said:

Okay is there reason people are saying Murdy is leaving or is it another “I didn’t like this year so it must be his last year” schtick we been pull since 2011? 

 

It's because on Twitter, when asked multiple times if he is leaving, Murdy said he was not sure. His daughter and wife live in Ireland and this year was very stressful on him, so if he has to choose, he's gonna choose to spend time with his child(ren?). I could imagine him still working next year a bit, but he might not be in charge. 

 

On ‎11‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 5:43 PM, DTH316 said:

Unpopular opinion, but I really wish that early entry wouldn't be so, well, early. At 5:00 on most nights, the sun hasn't even set yet. Sometimes they'll even let you in earlier! Leaking sunlight can straight up ruin a maze, and this year, getting your eyes adjusted to black hallway city was a complete nightmare.

I really love early entry being at 5pm. My best friend who loves HHN as much as I do has no problem staying until 2am, so we can even arrive to early entry a bit later and have no problem doing every maze, even with GA. However when I've brought other friends for their first time, they often want to leave by around 11- midnight, and if that's the case, a 5pm start is essential to completing every maze. I personally love feeling blind in a maze due to my eyes failing to adjust, it makes it way scarier and more disorienting. Light leak just ruins it though, especially in the lower lot mazes. 

[DTH316]

I have the same problem every time I go with my friends, we finish all the mazes by like 10:30-12, and they're ready to go and I'm like, let's do some repeats! And I can tell they're annoyed haha just trying to get more for my buck! But now I know just to take a separate car and if they wanna leave, then adios!

[zombieman]

On 11/12/2017 at 1:17 AM, Grindhousehero13 said:

Okay is there reason people are saying Murdy is leaving or is it another “I didn’t like this year so it must be his last year” schtick we been pull since 2011? 

Honestly I don’t believe it’s 100% Murdy fault this year was not great. 

Budget is not Murdy’s job he is a creative director he just deals with the money he is given. 

 

That's not where I'm coming from.  

You had better believe that corporate was not too keen when Murdy pitched the idea of working remotely for half the year while designing HHN 27.   While they let him do such a thing, I bet there was an understanding that 2017 needed to be a great year in order for that to continue.  Once that agreement is struck, Murdy is on the line to deliver, regardless of whatever happens.  A head will have to roll if it doesn't.  You think marketing or the bean counters will fall on their sword?  I see the owner of the neck on the line is that of the person who wanted to play by new rules.

 

So the budget - we don't frankly know what happened.  Was it less overall than 2016?  Was it the same but they wanted one more house?  Was it cut after the remote working agreement was made?  To his bosses, none of that matters.  2017 was a bad year on all fronts.  We don't need to be the bean counters to see the few sold-out nights and poor reviews from the GP - all while Orlando and Knotts has one of their best years ever.

 

My guess is that Murdy wants to work remotely again this year and Universal is saying no.  Heck, the powers that be may have even had their thumb on the scale and set him up for failure by cutting the budget after the agreement.  None of us knows anything other than Murdy's yearly comment that he hasn't decided whether to continue, and now his cryptic "I haven't booked a return flight" comment.  Maybe Murdy will say "screw it" and do something else.  Has anyone else noticed that his responses to questions are less cryptic than before.  To me, he's coming across as more blunt and less playful - like someone who is distracted and not into it.

 

I was at ScareLA when he sounded very enthusiastic for HHN 2017 and hyped the storyline for Titans and the final room of Roanoke.  At that time it sounded like his heart was in it and I was looking forward to the event.  But all I can remember about Hollywood 2017 is the endless black hallways and same four or five scares in every house.  No way I can see Murdy being proud of that.

[Sheev4Senate]

So are they lying when they said they had record high numbers this year? I genuinely feel like there was hardly anyone there for the event.

[zombieman]

32 minutes ago, Sheev4Senate said:

So are they lying when they said they had record high numbers this year? I genuinely feel like there was hardly anyone there for the event.

 

They can claim anything they want and not have to provide the asterisk.  There were more (official) HHN days this year versus the (official - not add on) HHN days last year.  Maybe they were counting daytime guests as well, because the park seemed more full during daytime hours this year vs last year.  But the four nights I was there this year were all Frequent Fear nights, and in past years those were extra-packed.  This year they were ghost towns.  This year I saw normally peak nights that still had FOTL and VIP tickets available online the same day.  That does not mesh with the notion of record high numbers.

 

I will correct myself on one point, though.  At the START of this season, HHN was very crowded.  Look at the 2017 thread - people were commenting how packed the first weekend was vs last year.  I did not have my first visit until week #3.  By then the reviews got out and the event was slammed on social media.  So my visits had quite light crowds.  The first night I didn't get there until almost 8PM.  Should have been slammed, but crowds were just not there.

 

I would believe that the first weekend had record numbers compared to last year first weekend.

 

[DTH316]

23 minutes ago, Sheev4Senate said:

So are they lying when they said they had record high numbers this year? I genuinely feel like there was hardly anyone there for the event.

I feel like there's some truth to it, but not in the way we think, and they're doing a "positive spin" routine. Last year was way more packed and had way better reviews from GP (Yelp or Facebook) and fans, and they're saying this year had "record" crowds. I don't know, sounds fishy to me. They're trying to reason that "one extra maze" spread people out more, but by that much to the point it's dead empty at certain points in certain areas of the park? Maybe the 5 PM early entry helped too and people left early, I don't know. I just think it's all suspect and don't know what to believe anymore.

[Hanniel]

40 minutes ago, zombieman said:

...

I will correct myself on one point, though.  At the START of this season, HHN was very crowded.  Look at the 2017 thread - people were commenting how packed the first weekend was vs last year.  I did not have my first visit until week #3.  By then the reviews got out and the event was slammed on social media.  So my visits had quite light crowds.  The first night I didn't get there until almost 8PM.  Should have been slammed, but crowds were just not there.

 

I would believe that the first weekend had record numbers compared to last year first weekend.

 

 

I went to opening day this year (2017) and last year (2016) and last year was much more crowded.  I remember explicitly because I had GA tickets and came to early entry and still waited in line for one maze up to 3 hours.  Even though this year I did the RIP tour, I saw the wait times never reach anywhere near 3 hours for any maze.

 

Also, with only one extra maze added this year, and 8 other attractions (including Terror Tram and TWD maze), it would only reduce each maze by about 1/9 or a little more.  So instead of say an average of 60 minutes per maze, you'd have about 53 minutes per maze.  However, the lines felt more reduced compared to last year. 

[zombieman]

1 hour ago, Hanniel said:

 

I went to opening day this year (2017) and last year (2016) and last year was much more crowded.  I remember explicitly because I had GA tickets and came to early entry and still waited in line for one maze up to 3 hours.  Even though this year I did the RIP tour, I saw the wait times never reach anywhere near 3 hours for any maze.

If this year was less crowded from the start, then bad reviews would only hurt it further, but what would set the tone for a crappy turnout from the start?  I mean, I heard Knotts had great attendance all season long.  So what would make HHN-H have such a bad attendance from the start?

 

Crappy 2016 - Nah.  2016 was a good year for Hollywood.  Gotta be something else.

 

Poor marketing - I can't say I recall hearing any promo that touted one more house.  I heard the "More mazes than ever before", but honestly, they've been playing that card in one form or another so many times when it was not actually true, I probably didn't pay attention.  Like when they call a house "all new" even though they are reusing the same scenes and scares we've seen multiple times.  Perhaps their B.S. marketing is finally catching up with them?

 

Prevalence of frankly better boutique haunts - the market is getting crowded with options these days.  Good for us.  Often these boutique haunts (The Willows, Delusion, Lore) are pretty pricey making people choose their poison.  And other local haunts compete for the dollars (Dark Harbor, Fright Fest, Knotts, Sinister Pointe, Reign of Terror, Haunted Hayride).  No idea on what kind of  turnout these all had.  But with so much to choose from, HHN needs to keep momentum to stay ahead.  I think HHN stumbled bigtime this year.  Knotts >> HHN this year.

 

GP not interested in the IP - This might have been a real component.  We got exactly ONE brand new IP house in The Shining.  Every other house had IP that had been presented in one way or another before: Evil Dead, Saw, Purge, Insidious, Walking Dead, AHS, Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, Chucky.  Arguably Happy Death Day and Sinister were new IP, but buried in the Blumhouse umbrella.  Then again, 2016 only brought 2 new IP for the event: Exorcist and AHS.  Perhaps even IP gets old for the GP.  

 

[DTH316]

It's the IPs and the marketing for the first weekend, with the reviews hitting it major on the second weekend and after, plus with Knotts being open from that point and on, and getting rave reviews (which lead to them selling out for the first time in yeeeeeears).

 

IPs: Yeah, Shining is huge, but it's not Exorcist huge. Insidious is popular, but the new movie isn't out, so there's no buzz around the franchise at the moment, plus it's been done twice. AVED, even big fans of the franchise have no idea this show exists, sadly. Saw, literally nobody gives a shit about it, and that's why the new movie flopped also -- I was surprised it even had a line, but I'm guessing that's mainly because new fans didn't see it back in 09/10. AHS had to deal with only being Roanoke, a very divisive season.

 

Marketing: I tried pointing it out before, but Titans of Terror and Blumhouse are hard to market, even if there's popular brands within them. Their ideas are too complex for a simple execution to reach to a mass audience. Also, on the forefront of the website, they advertise front and center the Jabbawockeez and The Walking Dead. Next to that is the Key Demon from Insidious 4 who nobody knows yet, Ash with his big stupid grin-yell face that doesn't look scary. The only thing striking to the eye is the twins in The Shining...

 

Reviews:.. and they're not even scareactors in the maze! Alot of people were looking forward to being scared by them, Vanessa Hudgens did a interview before going into the park saying that's what she was more excited about. And all they are is a ghost pepper effect! On the same coin, we have Chucky in a lot of marketing, but he's on the poorly received Tram, and was used sparingly on it. They're not even giving the FANS what we perceived the event to be! Disregarding the black hallways that the GP would think nothing of, none of the mazes were strong this year. Even the Shining isn't as good as '16 weakest maze. Knotts definitely is a competitor and stole a lot of business. They're cheaper, had a lot of new and fresh ideas, plus rides -- and everyone is saying it's good.

 

Past Years: Yeah, people love HHN, BUT the other half of people have been getting sick of the long lines. Year after year, you see the same exact story on Yelp: "I came at 8, did the Tram, did 3 rides, and one maze -- everything was 3 hours long, I'm never coming back." Last year may have been the best ever, but it was also beyond crowded and I can imagine how many people didn't show up for early entry and hated every second of it. Their perception is it's overcrowded, overpriced (because they probably went on a peak day) and overrated in quality. They may have done the event "wrong," but Uni needs to make the event more accessible -- which it luckily was this year BECAUSE of light crowds.