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Unmasking The Horror Tours


nestguy
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Someone wrote last year : "someone always starts this thread each year, so might as well be me". So, be it! :)

 

I took the 6 houses tour last year and really enjoyed ...the first 3 !!!  So I`m really thinking about skipping to the 3 houses tour.

Anybody have any insight as to what the tours are going to be this year? Which houses are they choosing for the 3 and the 6 houses tour?

And does anyone has a tip on how to get an especific tour guide?

Please, share a review from this year tour, if u can:)

Greetings from a newbie to the forum and  a sophomore to HHN (It`s gonna be my third time)

 

 

Edited by nestguy
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According to the interwebs, Poltergeist, Stranger Things, and Trick R Treat allow you to take pics of 2 rooms each, Originals allow photos throughout.

 

Too early to talk too confidentially about lineups....especially if houses lie Stranger Things have some issues to be addressed that might limit availability for day time hours.

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I did the AM/PM tour on Thursday Sept 20th.  Here's the houses we did and what I remembered.  Potential MINOR spoilers as I'll try to say what room were and weren't allowed for photos.

 

AM - the back of the park

  • Trick R Treat - photos of the facade and the first room or two were allowed...then the room that was outside with the ghost sheets.
  • Seeds of Extinction - I think EVERYTHING was fair game for pictures.
  • Quick stop by Dead Exposure to take pics of the facade and in the tent out front and stuff.

 

30min lunch break.  Shorter than previous years but there is a limited menu (turkey wraps, popcorn, hotdogs, etc) from the Blue Man Group concession stand that you have to "pre-order" before the tour starts.

 

PM - the sound stages

  • Poltergeist - Facade, super dark entry, and Carol Anne outside the TV transition room.
  • Stranger Things - Forest Scene with Castle Byers and the "portal" room in the research facility.
  • Carnival Graveyard - Hard to explain the rooms, but there was one or maybe two you weren't allowed pics in.  Not sure why.
  • Scary Tales - This was a big disappointment!  You were only allowed pics of the facade, super dark entry way, and then the Rapunzel room.  You'd think the Rapunzel room, which is extremely violent and contains a character from a disney movie, would be one of the offlimit ones and no clue why Humpty Dumpty wasn't allowed.  REALLY wished they switched this with Slaughter Sinema.  

 

Still upset about the new policy and REALLY mad that they had original rooms you couldn't take pictures of (including virtually an entire house) but the pictures allowed in the IPs were a nice surprise and a good compromise.  I didn't do the tour last year because I was too pissed about the policy change, but had done it probably the last 5-7 years before that.

 

DO NOT assume this is set in stone or that the AM tour only does 2 houses.  This was for the AM/PM so they got the hot ones out of the way early, then took us to all the A/C'd SS's for the afternoon session.  Also, they said it should end around 3:30 but we kept going until 4:20ish which was really nice.  Some of the puppets in the houses toured were "active" as a crew member was shadowing us and using them....unfortunately, they were all in non-picture rooms :(

 

Take my memory with a grain of salt, had a bunch of days of drinking between the tour and the write up so was going by my photos.  Just got home from my trip, but will post a link to the spoilerific tour photos when I get them all uploaded and stuff.

 



test

End of test

 

 

Edited by Oysterhead00
Testing Spoiler Tag for possible follow up..
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6 hours ago, themazethinker said:

so were there any cool facts they said in the tour?

Poltergeist movie/house spoiler warning

 

 

 


They have the meat sliding across the counter in poltergeist...it's just on a string that pulls it each way, they put rubber stoppers on the counter to make it stop, bunch up, and then eventually release from tension to make it look like it's crawling across the counter.  The guy ripping his own face off is a fake mirror gag...the Ajax and stuff is laid out on both sides of the psuedo-mirror...so you look at it and the scareactor is standing there in a similar pose and then he jumps with the ""mirror view" not changing.  It's a great acare and they use it at least 1 other time throughout the event.
 

 


Not really a spoiler as it's something you'd NEVER see with the lights out in Seeds of Extinction

 

 

 


There is a figment toy laying on the ground in the room with the cradles (I think)

 

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Also, if you look up at the end of the equilibrium room (will leave it at that to be as spoiler free as possible) you'll see a bunch of seeds on the ceiling that are the old AVP eggs painted green with some hay added.

Edited by Oysterhead00
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On 9/24/2018 at 12:34 PM, Oysterhead00 said:

I did the AM/PM tour on Thursday Sept 20th.  Here's the houses we did and what I remembered.  Potential MINOR spoilers as I'll try to say what room were and weren't allowed for photos.

 

AM - the back of the park

  • Trick R Treat - photos of the facade and the first room or two were allowed...then the room that was outside with the ghost sheets.
  • Seeds of Extinction - I think EVERYTHING was fair game for pictures.
  • Quick stop by Dead Exposure to take pics of the facade and in the tent out front and stuff.

PM - the sound stages

  • Poltergeist - Facade, super dark entry, and Carol Anne outside the TV transition room.
  • Stranger Things - Forest Scene with Castle Byers and the "portal" room in the research facility.
  • Carnival Graveyard - Hard to explain the rooms, but there was one or maybe two you weren't allowed pics in.  Not sure why.
  • Scary Tales - This was a big disappointment!  You were only allowed pics of the facade, super dark entry way, and then the Rapunzel room.  You'd think the Rapunzel room, which is extremely violent and contains a character from a disney movie, would be one of the offlimit ones and no clue why Humpty Dumpty wasn't allowed.  REALLY wished they switched this with Slaughter Sinema.  

 

Still upset about the new policy and REALLY mad that they had original rooms you couldn't take pictures of (including virtually an entire house) but the pictures allowed in the IPs were a nice surprise and a good compromise.  I didn't do the tour last year because I was too pissed about the policy change, but had done it probably the last 5-7 years before that.

 

 

Looked at your Flickr! Glad you still posted ones from all over.

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They said there are a lot of requests for Slaughter Sinema to be added to the UTH tour.  Was told it was not originally part of the tour because of cooling issues during day.  So maybe they will find a way to replace something with it.  I think they just don't want their tour guides to be saying "Schittie's Kidz"....

 

Also, if anyone has taken JUST the AM or PM tour, I'd be interested in knowing how they split it up, because the full day tour is the 4 Soundstages, then a break, then the 2 Parade buildings (or vice versa).  

So clearly if you do just the AM or PM you either get one of the SS or three of them.  So which one is the odd man out?  I'm guessing it's one of the IPs, so that each tour has one.

On 9/24/2018 at 9:39 AM, themazethinker said:

so were there any cool facts they said in the tour?

 

 

List of things NOT TO MISS from some of the houses.  Go back and redo if you miss any of these:

Poltergeist

 

 


Did the face peel guy pop out to get you?  You may have only seen the "reflection"

In the "Keep away from her!" scene, did you see the doorway that moves away from you?  It moves away to three depths.

Did you see Robbie in his room being attacked by the clown?

Did you see all four appearances of the giant white beast?  

As you go into the light, did you see Tangina?

As you come out of the light, did the giant skull puppet to your right attack you?

As you come out of the clown arms hallway, did the giant clown head puppet attack you?
 

 

 

Scary Tales

 

 


Did you see the witch flying overhead?

Did you see the bungee witch in her lair near the end?

Did you see #HHNBear at the very very end?
 

 

 

Carnival Graveyard

 

 


Did you see the clown overhead falling toward you?  Same as the planking actor in The Fallen
 

 

 

Dead Exposure

 

 


Right after the subway, did you see the row of three static zombies coming toward you - AND THEN the middle one jump at you because he was a scareactor?  Probably the best scare that this year's event!
 

 

 

Stranger Things

 

 


Did you see the Demigorgon that has the face that can open and close?  He pops out of a small hole on the left side about 2/3 of the way through.  Once through, the face opens.  This one is not to be missed.
 

 

 

 

There are THREE GATs in the houses:

 

Carnival Graveyard - early on in the "pop the balloon" section, there is a large RED button lit up on your right  Press it and the person ahead of you gets a squirt of water on their butt.  HOLD IT DOWN and they get a nice, long stream.

 

Carnival Graveyard - later on, before Luv Shak, there is a large RED button lit up on your left as you round a horseshoe shaped path.  Press it and you get squirted.  This was not working the second weekend, but this is what I was told.

 

Stranger Things - Very early, in the lab, you will come to the elevator with the dangling legs.  Press the BLUE lit elevator button, and the legs will thrash, along with sound effects.

 

 

Interesting stuff from the tour:

 

Slaughter Sinema - All of the movies came from spitball ideas for original houses.  These were ideas that couldn't be stretched into full length houses.

 

Slaughter Sinema - One of the movie trailers in the queue is for "Scarecrow: the Reaping".  Another is for "Hive".   BUT if you are not paying attention, you may miss the trailer for "Hive 2"...  Could this be an easter egg of a future house?  My tour guide winked, shrugged, and said "May Beeeee".

 

Carnival Graveyard - Universal Palace Theater sign to right at facade.

 

Carnival Graveyard - Two "hidden Jacks" in the house early on.  They are items with his face painted on them.

 

Carnival Graveyard - Dueling Dragons sign just before Luv Shak.  Buried in a pile o crap on your left.  VERY hard to see, but it's there.

 

Carnival Graveyard - Giant skull on left early on is from Festival of the Deadliest.

 

Carnival Graveyard - Near the pickup truck is the marquee from RUN.  Next to it is the ice cream cart from Vamp 55 scarezone.

 

Carnival Graveyard - Lucille (Negan's bat) is hanging on a wall to your right just after the "Ring the Bell" scene.

 

Carnival Graveyard - What is happening in Luv Shak

 

The two dead people tied to the pole are missing their faces.  The two scareactors are wearing the faces and make out.

 

Carnival Graveyard - Scares that may be missing later in the season

 

In the "Ring the Bell" hallway, metal hammers are supposed to be falling in succession overhead.  This was happening through 9/20.  Did not happen 9/22 or 9/23

 

When you see the barker overhead, there are two giant metal drums hanging in the air.  Through 9/20, the barker was pulling one back and releasing it so it slammed against the other.  Did not happen 9/22 or 9/23. This quickly destroys the drums and paint chips and/or metal flakes can eventually rain down in people's eyes. I'm pretty sure this one is done for the season...

 

Seeds of Extinction - The first house with zero humanoid actors at all and no voices.

 

Seeds of Extinction - The Sunglasses shop at very start is "Jack & Eddie's"

 

Seeds of Extinction - The Home Security shop immediately after is "CJ McPherson's Home Security" (Dead Exposure)

 

Seeds of Extinction - The Baby doll shop is called "Let's Make a Baby"

 

Seeds of Extinction - The left side wall has posters for the Festival of Rock.  Playing at the festival will be the "SIF Squad" - a reference to SIF - Stuff In Face

 

Seeds of Extinction - At the convenience store (whose name is a reference to Ghost Town) is a rack of Ultra Violent comics referencing many past houses as well as ones that have not happened (yet...)

Titles are: The Radioactive Hunchback, The In-Between, They Came from Planet 7 11, The Rhyme in the Corn, Nights of Fright, Asylum in Wunderland, Creatures!, Strange Mysteries, Grotesque Gastronomy - Flesh Eaters from the Crypt, Captain Action, The Corpse in the Trunk, True Suspense Stories

 

Seeds of Extinction - The 144 oz Lightnin' Gulp cup is next to the soda machine.  It's massive.

 

Seeds of Extinction - When the meteorite hit, the art gallery was presenting an exhibit showing pictures from the Dustbowl Era (nod to Scarecrow: The Reaping).  There is a quote on the wall introducing the exhibit:

"Leon Rigsby was a photographer, naturalist, and environmental prophet.  His collected works in the "Cracked Dirt" series, gives the viewer a glimpse into the history and landscape of the American Dust Bowl of the nineteen thirties"

"It will take a miracle from the highest point of Heaven to bring green back to this dirt."

"Only scarecrows stand sentry on the farmlands.  I have not seen any people on these lands in many weeks."

 

Seeds of Extinction - those are real Cessna parts... Just to the left of that is a table with a note on it.  The note reads:

"To my dearest Sarah, I can't believe that in less than a week I will get to be with you again.  I've been counting down the days.  As pretty as the flowers are here, you're still the most gorgeous one to me.  See you soon baby!  Yours truly, MOMO"  <I have no idea what MOMO is supposed to mean.  The signature was silver Sharpie over black sharpie, and did not match the letter in any way.  Very strange...>

 

Seeds of Extinction - Not a spoiler, but the slanted walkway is supposed to represent the 2nd floor of the Mexican Restaurant caving in.  The ADA path to the right is the first ADA bypass that includes a scare.

 

Poltergeist - Things that may not be happening later in the year

 

As you are in the pool it is supposed to be freezing and raining.  On 9/22 and 9/23 it was not raining at all.

 

The overhead clown originally dropped a few feet above you.  On 9/22 and 9/23 he was static.

 

 

Stranger Things - There is a scene (I think early on) where you see a hanging sheet and a Demigorgon shadow goes by.  This shadow is actually cast from a tiny 4" Demigorgon statue.  A nearby light rotates to create the effect.  Yet another "puppet" in this year's event!

 

 

Scary Tales - VERY early in the house, you pass through the inside of a turret that is very dimly lit.  Along the right and left sides of the walls are torch sconces.  Each sconce has a hanging object that depict a scene you will see.  I have pictures of all of these.  Impossible to see or understand during the event, but shows the lengths A&D go though to add the tiniest of details.

 

Scary Tales - Humpty Dumpty was sculpted and constructed as a complete egg.  It was then shattered and the pieces you see could actually be reassembled into a full egg.  In the house, Humpty was killed by a cannonball.  You can see the cannonball in the wall just behind him.

 

Scary Tales - This is a spoiler, but it's kind of hard to follow the rooms because our brains are trying to make sense of the fairy tales not matching the images we are seeing. 

 

The Wicked Witch above can not only fly at you, but can fly to (and land on) any of the cauldrons.   She has a full circular range of flight but can only face forwards, so she always has to land on the castle while moving backwards.

 

First hallway we see Dorothy chained in a cell, the Scarecrow being impaled on the wall, and then the Not-So-Cowardly Lion puppet attacking us.

 

First room is Hansel and Gretel, but the pitch is the good guy, cooking Little Red Robin hood.  As she is cooking, Gretel is talking about eating her all up, and Hansel is saying she will be yummy in his tummy.  <The guide was emphatic about "Red Robin Hood", and not "Red Riding Hood".  He said it was in the script from A&D.>

 

Goldilocks is the bad guy, stabbing Mama Bear.  Baby Bear comes to scare you, but not to help his mother.  Papa Bear (#HHNBear) is not found in the scene, because he is at the end of the house.

 

The Three Little Pigs are seen in the Big Bad Wolves den.  His head is cooking in the pot, and the third pig wears the wolf's face (a'la Leatherface).  A baby pig is embedded in the wall to your left, as well as pig parts.

 

Little Miss Muffet has been killed by spiders and her exposed abdomen is covered with egg sacs.

 

Humpty Dumpty - Worst possible job at HHN is being the guy who has a face splattered with egg white.  He has unspeakable nicknames.

 

Rapunzel - men are seen being tangled in her hair.  It looked like rope to me so I didn't understand this until the tour.  It is not explained why she is scalped, or by who.  

 

Little Mermaid - You are being attacked by evil mermaids on either side.  The walls are much wider then you would think because of the hanging seaweed.  Actors can move the entire length on either side.

 

At the end of the house, look for the bungee witch on your right.  Same effect as in Fallen last year.  It will be when you hear "The Land of the Fairies is mine now!"

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1 hour ago, zombieman said:

Stranger Things - This is the first-ever GAT in an IP house.  Very early, in the lab, you will come to the elevator with the dangling legs.  Press the BLUE lit elevator button, and the legs will thrash, along with sound effects.

 

cabin in the woods [purge button] and the saw house in 2017 had gats. so it's the third time actually.

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On 9/25/2018 at 6:35 PM, themazethinker said:

cabin in the woods [purge button] and the saw house in 2017 had gats. so it's the third time actually.

 

You are correct, sir!  My guide gave incorrect information that I repeated.  I have edited the post to correct.  I was perpetuating fake news...

 

But the CITW button I do not recall.... What did it do?

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On 9/25/2018 at 6:44 PM, zombieman said:

Little Mermaid - You are being attacked by evil mermaids on either side.  The walls are much wider then you would think because of the hanging seaweed.  Actors can move the entire length on either side.

I went through this house 4 times and never once saw a Mermaid. Just those Zebra fish things.

 

On 9/25/2018 at 6:44 PM, zombieman said:

When you see the barker overhead, there are two giant metal drums hanging in the air.  Through 9/20, the barker was pulling one back and releasing it so it slammed against the other.  Did not happen 9/22 or 9/23. This quickly destroys the drums and paint chips and/or metal flakes can eventually rain down in people's eyes. I'm pretty sure this one is done for the season...

Im glad I got to see this ONCE. ON the last run we did on 9/23 he was just pacing. Actor looked bored to be honest. My fav house of the year though.

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3 hours ago, PeoriaBJJ said:

I went through this house 4 times and never once saw a Mermaid. Just those Zebra fish things.

 

I felt the Little Mermaid scene was the weakest of the house.  We were told by the tour guide they were mermaids (even though they look like zebra fish), and they repeat what A&D tells them.  

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I don't know if it was mentioned or not, but the photo policy this year was more relaxed.

Each IP house allowed pictures in a couple of rooms, and they were not just throwaway rooms.  

 

Pictures were allowed in originals - for the most part.  As was is the case last year, there were certain rooms in originals where pictures were off limits.  It's not to keep the secret sauce a secret, but rather to keep themes that are too controversial from leaking out.  Basically, anything depicting a kid being killed is a no no (i.e. Little Miss Muffet, several elements from Hive last year, etc).  Anything depicting violence toward women (Little Red Robin Hood).  For some reason, there were stretches of Carnival Graveyard that were off limits.  Not sure why.  But Seeds was ok to take pictures throughout.   

 

That being said, it's impossible for the guide to keep an eye on 15 people throughout narrow corridors, so most places are easy to get a shot if the camera is silent and flash is off.  If there is a particular room where there shall be no photos, the guide will stay in it and let the group go on ahead.

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36 minutes ago, The-Autistic-Prince said:

Some of the scenes in Scary Tales: Deadly Ever After do sound too controversial to photograph. For example: The Goldilocks scene could double as animal cruelty, since the titular heroine is terrorizing a family of bears.

 

Not to mention that the Humpty room looks like the inside of an adult theater.

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On 9/25/2018 at 7:44 PM, zombieman said:

 

 

Scary Tales - This is a spoiler, but it's kind of hard to follow the rooms because our brains are trying to make sense of the fairy tales not matching the images we are seeing. 

  Hide contents

 

Rapunzel - men are seen being tangled in her hair.  It looked like rope to me so I didn't understand this until the tour.  It is not explained why she is scalped, or by who.  

 

 

She was holding a pair of scissors and screaming, "My hair!  It's alive!"  I think she did it herself.

Edited by HambergurPimp
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  • 4 weeks later...

Does any one have  informations on which houses are included in the Am tour and which are in the PM? I'm attending soon and I would like to book a half day tour but don't know which one to choose. Thank you

Edited by FrHHN
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There are a lot of tours and they criss cross.  In other words, I don't think that all AM tours only hit the same three houses.

 

I did the full day and the houses were (in order):

Poltergeist

Stranger Things

Carnival Graveyard

Scary Tales

Seeds of Extinction

Trick R Treat

 

If there is a particular house you really want, I suggest you call up the VIP tours line and ask that you be placed in a tour that will hit that house.  They will accommodate you if they can.

There were also lots of requests for Slaughter Sinema to be on the list, so maybe the lineup has changed since September when I went.

 

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On 9/25/2018 at 7:44 PM, zombieman said:

his

 

10 hours ago, zombieman said:

There are a lot of tours and they criss cross.  In other words, I don't think that all AM tours only hit the same three houses.

 

I did the full day and the houses were (in order):

Poltergeist

Stranger Things

Carnival Graveyard

Scary Tales

Seeds of Extinction

Trick R Treat

 

If there is a particular house you really want, I suggest you call up the VIP tours line and ask that you be placed in a tour that will hit that house.  They will accommodate you if they can.

There were also lots of requests for Slaughter Sinema to be on the list, so maybe the lineup has changed since September when I went.

 

Quoting this post because the other one is way long and I’m bad at using this forum !! But !!!! You mentioned that you had pictures of the sconces in the Scary Tales opening hallway; are those uploaded anywhere? I did ST a total of ten times last Sunday (to see Jake as Hansel), but I didn’t even notice them !

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