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Halloween Horror Nights 2018 (USH) General Discussion

John's second Twitter account is tweeting from Ireland. Started last night with the last one 8:55 am (I am assuming that is Ireland time) which means he missed last night, tonight and probably this weekend.

There really is no way this isn't his last year. His kind of schedule is brutal on anyone, so it's good to hear that he's spending time with his family.

I'm sure he helped secure the slate for next year, but otherwise, this year had the perfect send-off with UCM. I'm glad for John.
 
I had another go at the houses yesterday. I was second in line at Stranger things at 4:55 PM but most of the night it was 20 min wait. I walked on a few more times. Did Trick r Treat with walk ons and the last time I was Alone in the house. It was kinda creepy. Poltergeist was a walk on so I did it 3 times. I couldn't believe the First Purge had a advertised 20 min wait. I waited about 10 Min only because I had the password and wanted to see what thy where handing out. I actually had a good run in the Purge and didn't hate it as much as my first go. Blumhouse was ok another 5 min wait so might as well.

Since I had about an hour to kill before everything else opened up I marathoned The Mummy - it was a walk on.

The longest wait that I had for the night was Universal Monsters which was about 15 min. I didn't do Halloween as it was advertised as 30 min and I was hungry so I went to Vivo.

Overall I think all the houses hold up on repeat visits. Universal Monsters still takes the crown.

Black walls still are annoying. This time when I was alone it Trick R Treat I got turned around and bumped into a few walls. I think the scare actor was laughing at me. Overall still a great event. Thursday seemed really quiet. although I left at 7:30 pM.
 
So John basically confirmed that Asylum was designed as a solo maze... sucks we couldn’t get it this year. Will say though Blumhouse was a pretty decent replacement if that is what replaced AHS
 
So John basically confirmed that Asylum was designed as a solo maze... sucks we couldn’t get it this year. Will say though Blumhouse was a pretty decent replacement if that is what replaced AHS

He also insinuated that Disney buying Fox was the reason he didn't do it but I don't believe that. Disney didn't even win the bid to buy them until this summer. Up until then it could have just as well have been purchased by Comcast. So it doesn't make any sense that Disney would be the reason for AHS not coming this year. Next year, sure. But not this current one.
 
He also insinuated that Disney buying Fox was the reason he didn't do it but I don't believe that. Disney didn't even win the bid to buy them until this summer. Up until then it could have just as well have been purchased by Comcast. So it doesn't make any sense that Disney would be the reason for AHS not coming this year. Next year, sure. But not this current one.

True, plus I doubt Disney would be that stingy with a property they likely aren’t even gonna wanna advertise at their parks.

Anyone else see how much John is talking about Hellraiser lately? Makes me wonder if this is another TrT situation where he finally caved in on a doing a highly requested property
 
True, plus I doubt Disney would be that stingy with a property they likely aren’t even gonna wanna advertise at their parks.

Anyone else see how much John is talking about Hellraiser lately? Makes me wonder if this is another TrT situation where he finally caved in on a doing a highly requested property
Glad he’s finally doing it, but I’m sadly not excited for it. Why should I get excited for a maze where half of it will be Pinhead jumping out of a box in black hallways?
 
Glad he’s finally doing it, but I’m sadly not excited for it. Why should I get excited for a maze where half of it will be Pinhead jumping out of a box in black hallways?

I wouldn’t say it’s confirmed yet but John’s been talking about it a lot on Twitter. And that doll Easter Egg in TT is a little suspicious considering the ED easter egg in 2016 and the Frankenstein easter egg in 2018. I would imagine that if we got a Hellraiser maze a good portion of it would be in Hell which would probably be where the black walls are
 
I wouldn’t say it’s confirmed yet but John’s been talking about it a lot on Twitter. And that doll Easter Egg in TT is a little suspicious considering the ED easter egg in 2016 and the Frankenstein easter egg in 2018. I would imagine that if we got a Hellraiser maze a good portion of it would be in Hell which would probably be where the black walls are
John also mentioned that those Easter eggs were just a coincidence and not hinting at the following year
 
Does that include the slower days (Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays) as well as the high demand Fri/Sat?

Yes, this should be the case for all event days.

Also worth noting: Metro strategies need to change. First Purge now routinely commands the highest waits of the entire event, often exceeding Stranger Things. No idea why - some appears to be crowd flow logistics - but if you want to avoid a 40 minute wait on a slow night or a 120 minute wait on a peak night, hit this as soon as you get to Metro.
 
Yes, this should be the case for all event days.

Also worth noting: Metro strategies need to change. First Purge now routinely commands the highest waits of the entire event, often exceeding Stranger Things. No idea why - some appears to be crowd flow logistics - but if you want to avoid a 40 minute wait on a slow night or a 120 minute wait on a peak night, hit this as soon as you get to Metro.
....or maybe the GP actually loves the Purge. *shudders*
 
....or maybe the GP actually loves the Purge. *shudders*


Which means TrT, Blumhouse 2, and First Purge are all bottom 3.

I think Purge is just popular because of the property itself and how many people like the idea of it. Not the actual execution of the maze (Which is a terrible maze). And because it is the first maze people see when going into the Backlot. It could also be because they are inflating the wait times.
 
Inflated wait times are a major issue park wide. When I went, Purge said 85 minutes, was only 40.
Poltergeist said 60, was only 30.
Terror Tram said 90, was only 40.

Sad TrT and Blumhouse aren't doing as well on surveys. They're both probably being skipped and aren't ranking in general. And those that have done TrT apparently aren't getting good run throughs, even though I got two amazing ones in the same night.
 


Which means TrT, Blumhouse 2, and First Purge are all bottom 3.

I think Purge is just popular because of the property itself and how many people like the idea of it. Not the actual execution of the maze (Which is a terrible maze). And because it is the first maze people see when going into the Backlot. It could also be because they are inflating the wait times.

Let's all be honest here: is the First Purge maze really that bad? I agree it's not amazing, but it's certainly not as weak as TiTE. I thought at least the mannequin room was pretty unnerving. The black walls in here aren't as bad as TrT or Blumhouse.
Inflated wait times are a major issue park wide. When I went, Purge said 85 minutes, was only 40.
Poltergeist said 60, was only 30.
Terror Tram said 90, was only 40.

Sad TrT and Blumhouse aren't doing as well on surveys. They're both probably being skipped and aren't ranking in general. And those that have done TrT apparently aren't getting good run throughs, even though I got two amazing ones in the same night.
Trick r Treat was just not a great maze. I'm sorry dude. Sure there was some nice scares here and there, but design-wise, it's one of the laziest I've seen in any of the more sought-after properties. I should not have found Purge to be scarier than TrT, but here we are. The only thing that's keeping me from saying that Purge was better than TrT are the cool-looking school bus room and Kreig's house.

Also, thank God Monsters is number one so far. It deserves that honor. Hopefully this will push them to make more mazes of that caliber with scenic and scares.
 
Trick r Treat was just not a great maze. I'm sorry dude. Sure there was some nice scares here and there, but design-wise, it's one of the laziest I've seen in any of the more sought-after properties. I should not have found Purge to be scarier than TrT, but here we are. The only thing that's keeping me from saying that Purge was better than TrT are the cool-looking school bus room and Kreig's house.

Watch the black walls video. TrT is one of the least offenders. The precious UM is one of the worst. Scare design is beyond lazy, out of place, and unscary the entire way through -- there is hardly any proximity to the guests. There is nothing all that beautiful in the maze that HHN hasn't already done at least 10 times in the past. There's no sense of story, just monsters mashing and mixing from one room to the next. A film vault room that gives mixed signals whether we're walking through the movies or in that world. Graffiti on the outside walls that make no sense in either canon. It's a museum walk through much like Saw was last year. House of Horrors was better, scarier, and more faithful.

Anything that can be said about TrT can be said about UM also. Everyone I was with had TrT top of the list and didn't care for UM -- it may have just been our very specific walk throughs why we loved TrT that much. I've watched the videos for both many times after and I still have the same opinion though.

Either way, I could give scene by scene specific examples why I think UM is meh and TrT is great. All I'm hearing are generalizations about both. If you love it regardless and/or bias for either, that's fine. Either way, it'll come down to subjectivity, but objectively, they're the same except for scare placements and number of scares. Where I say elements don't combine, another could say they love that specific aesthetic. I could say the Girl section in HOB is dark, grim, and foreboding while another could say it's dark, boring, and there's not a lot to look at -- but did they listen to the soundtrack?

Were they alone, the front of the group, or did they not get the scares? Did they just walk through confused and let that be a deciding factor? Or maybe one maze they went in with a critical brain and the other they went in on a time-to-have-fun brain. Hormonal imbalances. Chemical reactions. Mood factors -- hungry, tired, energized? Physical parameters -- eyes adjusted to the dark, mostly looking forward, down or up? Did you just run to the maze or wait an hour for it? Was your adrenaline already pumping or were you relaxed? Everything is a factor. I can list mine in a review, I can say I'm biased in a review, I can be detailed in a review, I can note past-mazes of HHN and other haunts in a review.

But until there's something specific, those types of generalizations mean nothing. And even with specificity, end of the day, what people experienced is what they experienced. And 999 out of 1000 times, they don't get a repeat or even care to or look back at a video. It is what it is. I went through Purge and say it's just as bad TiTE. You say it's almost as scary as TrT. But if you're going to go pound for pound, actual square footage of plywood and complain about black walls every other post, then UM and Purge are at the top of the freakin' list and by that logic, are garbage or average at best. Stay consistent with your hate, admit bias, or just say it really doesn't matter as long as the black wall freakin' works in the moment. Here's a quote straight from Yelp from someone who claims they go every year: "We got scared and startled soooo many times and had one of the most amazing experiences. I thought the mazes felt longer and I loved how they added A LOT of dark areas where I seriously got lost and disoriented a couple times!" Sometimes y'all are getting too cynical, entitled, and complain about every little thing. Why go anymore? Why even be a fan if you can't appreciate? There's a difference between fandom and whining about something you do out of masochistic habit because you loved it once 8 years ago.

TrT is a fantastic maze, from my point of view.
 
am I the only one who’s noticed that actors no longer scare guests from behind? Last year, I remember that I always had to look behind me to see if someone was about to scare me, but I haven’t seen one person get scared from behind this year...if that makes sense
 
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