OK, newbie (here anyway) alert, but what's the buzz from the experts on this year's event. I thought last year was one of the freshest and best I had seen in years after really thinking that the event's best years were behind it after 2010's uninspired event.
Really hoping last year was the start of a trend ...
Sad to say this year looks closer to 2010 than 2011, Spirit (at least in my opinion). How good the event looks depends on what "expert" you ask... but it would appear that Universal's HHN is currently going through a sort of "One Disney" phase, with Orlando borrowing heavily from Hollywood's event and practices. IPs are being "shared" between the events, complete with joint announcements (Silent Hill, Walking Dead, and Alice Cooper). To be fair this has occurred before (in 2007 with Freddy/Jason Leatherface), 09 (SAW), and 11 (THING), but it would appear that the Orlando event is "under new management" with significant cuts. There will be seven houses this year, not eight (and regardless of what some will tell you, I have it on good authority that eight houses could've been done if they truly wanted to); the sudden SS44 demolition caused them to scrap a planned Chupacabra house and hastily come up with an alleged "classic monsters on the cheap" house in the Parade Building.
Due to the SuperStar parade several scare zone areas will likely be without props/sets, relying on fog/audio/lighting. There's a lot of rumors about some elaborate "war" to take place between the zones, but from what I'm hearing that sounds like a lot of PR speak that will dissolve into essentially nothing out of the ordinary. (Look what happened to Nightmaze.) The rumor is we'll have six zones with two roaming hordes.
Other cuts include the lack of an elaborate website, which has existed for Orlando since 2004. Hollywood has never had a fancy website, so this is most likely another side effect of trying to get Orlando to mirror Hollywood. We may apparently still get some "games" due to the backlash, but all of the build-up/momentum/storytelling has been lost to social media... which has kept me very unengaged so far. Anyone who reads your posts well knows your stance on social media...
It would appear no icon/overarching theme, either (ie Lady Luck last year). This is yet another side effect of Hollywood - in the past when the events "shared" IPs, Orlando maintained its identity with the huge themes that tied everything in (Carnival of Carnage, Ripped from the Silver Screen, etc.)
It really appears the event this year has been a victim of last minute decision-making & changes as well as a change in managerial direction; lots of improvisation and disconnected ideas (Silent Hill was allegedly a last minute grab.) The stuff that puts Orlando's event over the top (the elaborate website, plot, icon characters, etc.) appears to be missing this year. I could go on for days about this stuff, though, so I'll stop my cynicism here and continue to hope that this year's event is still a great one.