Halloween Horror Nights 26 Discussion

[Badgeking]

That's not the reason they changed Jasmine's costume.

It's no different than having other female characters on the street. If they had Chance on the street I think it'd be a mob scene the whole night.

But it was the reason. Disney would NEVER say they changed the costume because the original was to revealing. They are simply claiming it was changed because all the princess have been getting new outfits. However, if the change really was just a "refresh" of the costume, they would have kept it closer to her normal style instead of covering her head to toe with no skin shown. There are tons of topics on reddit and various other sites from former princesses telling horror stories of what they had to go through from the adult male crowd. It's disgusting.

There is a big difference between a female scareactor all bloody and not in a revealing costume compared to an outfit like Carrie last year. Carrie was pulled from the streets because some guests got a little to close for comfort. Chance roaming the streets would not only turn a giant photo-op with a huge line, but it would bring out the gross side of some males. The current rumor is she will be on a stage that is brought in nightly into her zone out of arms reach from other guests. She will then probably have a large security escort moving her from backstage to her zone throughout the night.

 

[Frank Drackman]

Pretty sure the girl who played Carie quit, I do not think she was pulled. I find it a real shame that people in the general pubic have no respect for others.

 

[hishedale]

Pretty sure the girl who played Carie quit, I do not think she was pulled. I find it a real shame that people in the general pubic have no respect for others.

What happened?

 

[Legacy]

What happened?

She kept getting sexually harassed and assaulted by guests, so she quit.

Three or four scareactors quit rather publicly because of sexual harassment (and abuse in general). It's actually a pretty severe issue and has been for a while. Last year set a new standard, though. A lot of vets were saying it was worse than ever. I'm curious to see if it's just as bad this year.

 

[Badgeking]

She kept getting sexually harassed and assaulted by guests, so she quit.

Three or four scareactors quit rather publicly because of sexual harassment (and abuse in general). It's actually a pretty severe issue and has been for a while. Last year set a new standard, though. A lot of vets were saying it was worse than ever. I'm curious to see if it's just as bad this year.

It's awful! Do the "watchers" that keep an eye on the actors in each zone have much power to do things in these situations? I would hope they have the power to kick a guest out for abusing an actor. As "tacky" as it might be, I wouldn't mind seeing BIG signs all around the front gates saying "DO NOT TOUCH OR VERBALLY HARASS ANY ACTORS! Failure to comply will result in being removed from the park and could lead to your arrest!" If your kicked out, your banned for the rest of the year and the following year as well. They need to get strict! They need to weed out the awful people that have no respect for others. Honestly, a lifetime ban and a night or two in jail would hopefully make these disgusting people think about their actions and word choices. I mean with so many cops around, you would think harassment issues would be handled by the real police and not UO security.

 

[Legacy]

The scareactors themselves have the authority to kick people out (EDIT- They have the ability to get people kicked. I want to clarify). During Catacombs I personally averaged one trespass a night (people were fans of grabbing the beak of our masks). And depending on the severity, scareactors can press charges. However, it's huge hassle. In a house, it requires going to the exit and pointing the culprit out to security. It's an even bigger problem in the streets because it's so easy for guests to get lost in the crowd. And it's sometimes impossible to actually see whose assaulting you.

Universal is really good at erring on the side of caution. They take the scareactors at their word when something happens. But most people would be floored by how widespread the issue is. The only way to actually stop it would be to just stop the event.

 

[Lucky Planet]

. I find it a real shame that people in the general pubic have no respect for others.

kinda what happens when both young people go to the event and try to show off to their friends (have seen it many times) and when people cant hold their alcohol. I know those are not the Only two reasons but they tend to be pretty big reasons. Kids go to HHN to prove how though they are or people get way too drunk

 

[Tobias]

But most people would be floored by how widespread the issue is. The only way to actually stop it would be to just stop the event.

Being one who's been working at a haunted attraction for 6 years straight, patrons assualting/harrassing the actors have always been a widespread thing. It's honestly nature of the beast with this type of event. I've seen rotten behavior from any age, any gender and any level of sobriety or intoxication. Which makes it rather tricky when it comes to dealing with issues like that.

Case in point, here's three general things I hear people say to try to curb this issue.

"No alcohol so people don't get drunk" - It may seem like a easy fix, but there's three issues. 1. In the case of HHN that's a profit, and they don't like losing a good chunk of it. 2. People are still going to get their buzz somehow, they'll just pregame at Citywalk and come right in. An' 3. (Probably the biggest one.) People don't need any alcohol to assualt/harrass the actors, in fact they can be much worse because they know what they're doing. (An' don't have their motor skills impeaded.)

"Make the event 18/21+ so there's no kids!" - Kids/Teens can be brats, but Adults are gonna' hurt more if they grab, punch, jump up on you like a friggin' monkey etc.

"Put up big warning signs with the rules, threatening this/that etc." - Well unfortunately first off guests already ignore the general warning signs, doesn't matter how many there are, what the size is, the font etc, they're ignored. Threaten they'll be kicked out/banned and so forth, still ignored. An' from my experiences, you can have a greeter at the beginning of every attraction tell you the rules...and you're still going to have guests throwing punches. You can have security clearly seen, they're still going to cause trouble.

Legacy is not wrong in saying the only way to really stop this is to stop the event completely. Harsh, but that's something any haunt has to deal with in some fashion. Personally for me, for every negative I've encountered, I've had ten positives which make it all worthwhile. I know going in every year I'm going to encounter rotten guests, but I'm prepared for it to happen so it rolls off me and I keep on Haunting.

 

[Viator]

From Hauntfreak11, you guys are seemingly going to share commercials with Hollywood's this year..

 

[RedRightDan]

That...Hmmm...that is not great.

 

[Viator]

That...Hmmm...that is not great.

To be honest, it seems like a win on Hollywood's side while Orlando is furious due to the lack of Chance and the lack of charm (Horror Nights charm..) that the HHN25 commercial brought us.

It's better than reusing the exact same commercial but changing it slightly for more than two years, so at-least be lucky that the airport commercial has now been laid dead..

 

[s8film40]

I really don't care that much about the commercials, websites and marketing materials too much as long as the event is great. On the whole though it looks like Chance as an icon is being handled very poorly for this event and that's a real shame and huge missed opportunity. I'm still very hopeful it will turn out great, little things like this are causing me to be a little cautiously hopeful. The event has a great line up and would appear to be able to top last year if it weren't for a few holes in it. Between this and Academy of Villains I really more and more get the impression they were dealt some sort of curve ball and had to make the best of the situation, it just doesn't feel as well rounded as last year.

 

[Viator]

I really don't care that much about the commercials, websites and marketing materials too much as long as the event is great. On the whole though it looks like Chance as an icon is being handled very poorly for this event and that's a real shame and huge missed opportunity. I'm still very hopeful it will turn out great, little things like this are causing me to be a little cautiously hopeful. The event has a great line up and would appear to be able to top last year if it weren't for a few holes in it. Between this and Academy of Villains I really more and more get the impression they were dealt some sort of curve ball and had to make the best of the situation, it just doesn't feel as well rounded as last year.

I agree with this, mainly due to that I wouldn't of been shocked that they planned Jack to be at the event again this year, but couldn't get James to be on-board for whatever the reason may be. So, they went to Erin and has had to possibly change some things to accommodate her character..atleast, as a guess at this point.

 

[Victoria]

what was the reason

"Culturally accurate". Same reason for Pocahontas and Mulan's make over.

If the change was because she's to "revealing" than why does Ariel still meet in her clam shells?

 

[s8film40]

"Culturally accurate". Same reason for Pocahontas and Mulan's make over.

This excuse isn't valid unless they go back and change the movie also. The character should be accurate to the movie, if there's a problem with the character then the movie needs to be addressed. If they can't portray the characters correctly they shouldn't even bother putting them in the park. At this point most comic cons will have a far better representation.

I agree with this, mainly due to that I wouldn't of been shocked that they planned Jack to be at the event again this year, but couldn't get James to be on-board for whatever the reason may be. So, they went to Erin and has had to possibly change some things to accommodate her character..atleast, as a guess at this point.

Yeah when I think of how I want to see Chance represented in the event it is in this list of priorities, Show>Scarezone>House. They seem to have this completely backwards. Chance is really designed for and does best in the show format,, honestly if they couldn't do a show I think they should have just skipped having her as an icon. I think the same would apply to Jack as well, so if there was some issue that came up I think it may that something else was planned that we don't know and this was thrown in as a last minute replacement.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

She kept getting sexually harassed and assaulted by guests, so she quit.

Three or four scareactors quit rather publicly because of sexual harassment (and abuse in general). It's actually a pretty severe issue and has been for a while. Last year set a new standard, though. A lot of vets were saying it was worse than ever. I'm curious to see if it's just as bad this year.

I also partially blame the design of sets and scare zones for this. Having Carrie stand in the middle of a major arterie of the park or scare actors at a kicking location is bad.

I remember hearing issues at HHN years ago, this is nothing "new" but the continued existence of this is unacceptable.

 

[s8film40]

I also partially blame the design of sets and scare zones for this. Having Carrie stand in the middle of a major arterie of the park or scare actors at a kicking location is bad.

I think one of the big issues is the character she was portraying was basically standing in one spot without moving. It made it very easy for people to approach her and antagonize her. I think it was almost a situation similar to like the British guards where people would try to get her to break character.

I remember hearing issues at HHN years ago, this is nothing "new" but the continued existence of this is unacceptable.

I heard several accounts that last year wasn't as bad as other years, but the instances were just made more public.

 

[Legacy]

Actually, while a lot of stuff feels a bit last minute (and a couple of things actually are), I don't think Chance and how they're using her is.

Last year was a one off. Not only was it an anniversary year, it was the biggest anniversary (numerically and celebratory) they've had. That gave Orlando the freedom to be wildly independent and "return to their roots a bit." And they did that.

This year is not a celebration. As such, they're going back to what they've been doing: bargain-basement second shows, shared commercials and general population marketability.

The way Chance is basically being used identically to the Usher. But here's the thing, only two icons before her have gotten a house and a zone: Jack and the Caretaker. Usher, Storyteller, and Mary only got houses. Director got a house and pop-up show. Jack has been the only icon with a full-fledged production and even that took four returns to get.

 

[s8film40]

The way Chance is basically being used identically to the Usher. But here's the thing, only two icons before her have gotten a house and a zone: Jack and the Caretaker. Usher, Storyteller, and Mary only got houses. Director got a house and pop-up show. Jack has been the only icon with a full-fledged production and even that took four returns to get.

That's not really a good comparison at all as those other icons were created as icons. Chance came to icon status through appearances in shows, that where the character was born and how people expect to see her. The opportunity to expand on that with a scare zone and house is great, but take out the show element and it becomes an empty shell of an icon.

 

[Brian G.]

Actually, while a lot of stuff feels a bit last minute (and a couple of things actually are), I don't think Chance and how they're using her is.

Last year was a one off. Not only was it an anniversary year, it was the biggest anniversary (numerically and celebratory) they've had. That gave Orlando the freedom to be wildly independent and "return to their roots a bit." And they did that.

This year is not a celebration. As such, they're going back to what they've been doing: bargain-basement second shows, shared commercials and general population marketability.

The way Chance is basically being used identically to the Usher. But here's the thing, only two icons before her have gotten a house and a zone: Jack and the Caretaker. Usher, Storyteller, and Mary only got houses. Director got a house and pop-up show. Jack has been the only icon with a full-fledged production and even that took four returns to get.

I've been warning people since 26 spec started. 26 will not be as "grand" as 25 because it is just another year now and try not to compare. It still may be a great event, but not in the same capacity as last year.