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Halloween Horror Nights 28 General Discussion

Girlfriend is an HHN newbie, brought her back tonight and without prompting as we left TrT she said, "Wow, there were a lot more people [meaning actors] the last time we did this one."

Walking back, counted two actors in Traditions, three in Harvest. Maybe four or five in Klowns. Maybe it was just bad timing, but only Chucky felt close to normal staffing.
Today has been a bad day for staffing. The counts aren’t quite as low in the zones you mentioned (you probably just missed a few), but yeah, places like Harvest and Traditions were at about half staff. Reserves rarely get sent to those zones as houses have priority.
 
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Maybe it’s because I missed 27 but went to Hollywood’s 2017 & 2018(as well as HHN28) but this year seemed amazing. In you guys’ opinions was it better or worse than 27? From the videos and what my friends have said the only houses that would compete with this years’ are Scarecrow & Dead Waters(if it had more rooms)
 
Maybe it’s because I missed 27 but went to Hollywood’s 2017 & 2018(as well as HHN28) but this year seemed amazing. In you guys’ opinions was it better or worse than 27? From the videos and what my friends have said the only houses that would compete with this years’ are Scarecrow & Dead Waters(if it had more rooms)
This year as a whole is definitely better than last year, but the lack of B&T is definitely felt and there are certainly quite a few houses worse than Scarecrow and Dead Waters this year. Scarecrow still tops them all imo.

Imo the houses this year are all solid, save for Blumhouse. But there’s really only one standout for me and that’s Poltergeist.
 
Today has been a bad day for staffing. The counts aren’t quite as low in the zones you mentioned (you probably just missed a few), but yeah, places like Harvest and Traditions were at about half staff. Reserves rarely get sent to those zones as houses have priority.

This kinda makes me wish I had accepted a reserve spot this year. Would have had my pick of any house this time of year.
 
This year as a whole is definitely better than last year, but the lack of B&T is definitely felt and there are certainly quite a few houses worse than Scarecrow and Dead Waters this year. Scarecrow still tops them all imo.

I think that's sort of the HHN28 gist: overall consistent, high quality but misses some of the high highs and memorable moments (B&T) of years past.
 
Literally no houses are on the level of Scarecrow from last year, either. The houses this year are for the most part "solid" (with the exception of Blumhouse and Halloween), but none of them are what I would consider "Great". Poltergeist is the closest that gets to great, but I still personally think it's just at the "really good" level.

Nothing is overly special about the zones imo. Actually, I personally feel like Chucky is probably the most well-rounded and it doesn't seem to be getting recognized as much. It has a good dose of scares throughout, but also some comedy to take in.

I feel like people are most CERTAINLY over-hyping this year since we are currently living through it.
I agreed with you on this earlier but I recently went again and to me Seeds got way better. My friend and I agreed it was “Scarecrow” level this time. When we first went we said Poltrogiest was the best but we agreed it went down a lot, many things that made it great where gone.
 
I think that's sort of the HHN28 gist: overall consistent, high quality but misses some of the high highs and memorable moments (B&T) of years past.

Funny, I felt like that was the general consensus on 27. My problem with 27 was it felt very barren and generic in a lot of places--Altars, Purge, Hive, the extremely vague backstory of Fallen, etc. However, it felt very adult-oriented. This year feels far more cohesive (dare I say moreso than with Chance at 26).

Agree with @TheCode on TrT and Scary Tales, strongly disagree on Poltergeist and Dead Exposure (funny enough, those were my thoughts on the original DE, but I feel like I didn't really "understand" it, as the DEs are meant to be more psychological--I think if I went through the original now, I'd appreciate it a LOT more).

Like I said, this year seems far more divisive. I think it edges 16 for my second favorite overall year.
 
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I heard a rumor...does Express at HHN this year work on rides an unlimited amount of times? Or is it just like the houses and only works once per ride?
 

Holy cow! The entitlement and lack of responsibility on that page is amazing. Lots of description about why they should not be held accountable for breaking the law with respect to alcohol and minors, but no acknowledgment that it was their own d&$* fault for breaking the law with respect to alcohol and minors!

Don't drink in the garage, don't underage drink in the garage or park, and most of that guy's site complaints disappear.

Some people...
 
2006, 2008, and the 2016-present are my years of attendance.

Ah ok. Whats your 1 spot? 2008 was mine for the longest time until this year.


I heard a rumor...does Express at HHN this year work on rides an unlimited amount of times? Or is it just like the houses and only works once per ride?

I didn't use it this year but I don't ever remember them scanning it for me so I used it unlimited times. At least for mummy and transformers. They may have for Harry Potter though. I forgot.
 
Girlfriend is an HHN newbie, brought her back tonight and without prompting as we left TrT she said, "Wow, there were a lot more people [meaning actors] the last time we did this one."

Walking back, counted two actors in Traditions, three in Harvest. Maybe four or five in Klowns. Maybe it was just bad timing, but only Chucky felt close to normal staffing.
it depends on the time too
Before 7:30 some zones only gave like 3 actors, the stilt people come out way later. I notice that at 6 pm the scarecrow zone and the pumkin zone were very empty. As well as vamp.
But by 8 pm it was full of actors.
Was it missing actors for you the whole night?

Maybe it’s because I missed 27 but went to Hollywood’s 2017 & 2018(as well as HHN28) but this year seemed amazing. In you guys’ opinions was it better or worse than 27? From the videos and what my friends have said the only houses that would compete with this years’ are Scarecrow & Dead Waters(if it had more rooms)


I feel like the zones were a lot more fun last year.
The zones were more entertaining and more interesting. The metalhead bones zone wad WAY better than chucky. The red lighting and the big stages looked amazing. The music was amazing. The costumes were amazing. I think last year it was more fun to walk the streets. I only love killer klowns this year. Last year i loved all zones.

This kinda makes me wish I had accepted a reserve spot this year. Would have had my pick of any house this time of year.

Which is weird because universal chose to not call veteran actors this couple of past years and get new people, but then they end up with not having enough actors...
 
it depends on the time too
Before 7:30 some zones only gave like 3 actors, the stilt people come out way later. I notice that at 6 pm the scarecrow zone and the pumkin zone were very empty. As well as vamp.
But by 8 pm it was full of actors.
Was it missing actors for you the whole night?




I feel like the zones were a lot more fun last year.
The zones were more entertaining and more interesting. The metalhead bones zone wad WAY better than chucky. The red lighting and the big stages looked amazing. The music was amazing. The costumes were amazing. I think last year it was more fun to walk the streets. I only love killer klowns this year. Last year i loved all zones.



Which is weird because universal chose to not call veteran actors this couple of past years and get new people, but then they end up with not having enough actors...

Go on?

TrT was a great zone and Festival was fun, but I think the streets this year are better overall.
 
Which is weird because universal chose to not call veteran actors this couple of past years and get new people, but then they end up with not having enough actors...
People say this like it’s a new trend.

The reunion auditions follow the same process as the open calls. Basically, it’s all luck in who gets cast and who doesn’t. The casting directors don’t know or care all that much about who is standing in front of them. They have a list of the role dimensions they’re casting for (costume sizes) during that round of casting and if they like you, you’re in. It’s an assembly line and a calculation.

Now, they cast to a number. That number includes two full casts for houses and zones, three-five swings/fire crew for each, and then enough back-ups for a third of the total number of performers they need for a night. They can’t predict quits, or call-outs, or the number of back-ups that show up each night for roles.
 
People say this like it’s a new trend.

The reunion auditions follow the same process as the open calls. Basically, it’s all luck in who gets cast and who doesn’t. The casting directors don’t know or care all that much about who is standing in front of them. They have a list of the role dimensions they’re casting for (costume sizes) during that round of casting and if they like you, you’re in. It’s an assembly line and a calculation.

Now, they cast to a number. That number includes two full casts for houses and zones, three-five swings/fire crew for each, and then enough back-ups for a third of the total number of performers they need for a night. They can’t predict quits, or call-outs, or the number of back-ups that show up each night for roles.

From my experience with this year’s reunion auditions, it seemed like a lot of people returned.

I’m actually interested in the acting auditions for next year’s event. If anyone has info on how those go down, PM me.
 
From my experience with this year’s reunion auditions, it seemed like a lot of people returned.

I’m actually interested in the acting auditions for next year’s event. If anyone has info on how those go down, PM me.
By “acting,” you mean speaking role auditions? It’s a typical theater audition. They bring you in (groups of 10, I think), they ask questions about your performance history, you do your monologue, and hope for a call back. If it’s an improv heavy role, they may have you improv responses “in character.”

Dance auditions - they teach you a routine.
 
People say this like it’s a new trend.

The reunion auditions follow the same process as the open calls. Basically, it’s all luck in who gets cast and who doesn’t. The casting directors don’t know or care all that much about who is standing in front of them. They have a list of the role dimensions they’re casting for (costume sizes) during that round of casting and if they like you, you’re in. It’s an assembly line and a calculation.

Now, they cast to a number. That number includes two full casts for houses and zones, three-five swings/fire crew for each, and then enough back-ups for a third of the total number of performers they need for a night. They can’t predict quits, or call-outs, or the number of back-ups that show up each night for roles.

I remember some actors were upset on fb about how they worked for 5-6+ years at hhn and then didnt get accepted for hhn 27 or hhn28 lol.
 
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