Halloween Horror Nights 26 Discussion | Page 162 | Inside Universal Forums

Halloween Horror Nights 26 Discussion

  • Signing up for a Premium Membership is a donation to help Inside Universal maintain costs and offers an ad-free experience on the forum. Learn more about it here.
Quick lil updates.

Seeing multiple reports that Krampus has the looks, but it's lacking the scares/missing something. Part of me feels that could be due to possible restrictions in the Shrek venue. (Since Alice last year had some wonky rooms which really didn't allow for scares.)

Also seeing Lunatics 3D is good, better then Alice last year.

Scare zone wise, Vamp 55' has great scaractor interaction, Survive or Die is pretty much Acid Assualt meets Mad Max, Lair of the Banshees has weird costumes but it's a good zone. An' Dead Man's Warf is good, but unfortunately small in size. An' it seems A Chance in Hell is actually fairly nice, buncha' crazies on the street plus Chance in one of the stages.
 
Currently in line for HHN preview with Tim and Jen right next to me. He's much taller in person lol

They were in our group for the Unmasking the Horror tour last year. They are really nice people and were a lot of fun! We had no idea who they were before the tour but by the end we just had to watch their YouTube channel!
 
Keep in mind this is a preview night. Year after year it's the same thing. Early reactions are askew, especially over the course of the event.

Roanoke 2 years ago got rave reviews EP. I went through that house 5x easy and it was never earth shattering.

Catacombs in 2010 got a meh' reaction on EP night and it is one of the greats.

First 2 weekends are the true test.
 
Last edited:
Will there be a place we can get full spoiler reviews and photos? I can't go this year and it is killing me. We had the trip booked for the second week of the event but had to cancel a couple of weeks ago. Looking to get all the details with as many photos as possible throughout the event. Already started collecting facade photos! Tomb of the Ancients facade looks incredible, totally wasn't expecting all the plants.

Everyone going have fun and bring on the spoilers! Thanks!
 
  • Like
Reactions: snayberry
Will there be a place we can get full spoiler reviews and photos? I can't go this year and it is killing me. We had the trip booked for the second week of the event but had to cancel a couple of weeks ago. Looking to get all the details with as many photos as possible throughout the event. Already started collecting facade photos! Tomb of the Ancients facade looks incredible, totally wasn't expecting all the plants.

Everyone going have fun and bring on the spoilers! Thanks!
There will no shortage of content for you to take in. A lot of people here will have comprehensive reviews and then there are some good you tube channels that cover the event like cheap seats and tim tracker. Most of the houses should also end up on youtube eventually.
 
if the problem of krampus was that there were no scares then thats something that can be tweaked. i remember resident evil had this problem and they added more actors.
if the problem is the room set ups or something (like alien vs predator) then that could be worrisome. just saying.
 
  • Like
Reactions: snayberry
Now that EP is winding down, a non-spoilery recap.

- AHS sounds to be a juggernaut, a whole lotta' praise and once the line quickly went to at least 120 minutes, it didn't go below it. (Also, it had a fire drill.)

- Ghost Town is back and oh baby it sounds like a wonderful return! Lots of praise and apparently it's showcasing several new effects.

- Tomb of the Ancients also got plenty of praise, it showed why it's A&D's crown jewel of the line up.

- The Exorcist got a pretty positive response, far more so then Hollywood's version. It sounds like there's a lot of great effects in it.

- Halloween & TCM got a good amount of praise as well.

- Lunatic's Playground could possibly be the dark horse, it got favorable praise and some felt it was better then Alice last year.

- Probably the biggest surprise house-wise, the Walking Dead was praised. Seriously, I didn't find any negative response from it. This could be a Rononoke trap but we'll have to wait and see.

- Finally, Krampus. Out of all the reviews this was the most mixed. Some liked it, some felt it was lacking. However I did find a tweet which gave better insight, it sounds like the house itself is NOT finished senic-wise. (Which would explain other tweets saying it felt like it was missing something.) That does happen now and then, hopefully stuff get's added/finished soon and it doesn't pull a Hades.

Scare zone-wise, it sounded good all across the event. My prayers were answered as Vamp '55 is NOT a photo op float zone like Hollywood has been in the past. An' it sounds like Chance is Hell is working nicely in the Plaza of the Stars. (Technically that's probably gonna' be the photo op zone, but it's understandable since Chance is there, and at least it's a different location.)

All in all, this sounds like it could be a solid year. We just gotta' wait and see these first couple weekends to see what stands up.
 
excellent but
what about the shows? bill and ted?

Academy of Villian's got praised, there wasn't much word from B&T. (Probably due to it's EP and things can definitely change during the run for B&T, but OU felt there'll be more people that'll like this year's B&T then hate it.)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lucky Planet
I didn't get to go in the all of the houses but I got into AHS, Ghost Town, Lunatics, TCM and Tomb of the Ancients.

AHS was very well thought out house and even though I haven't watched the show it still captured my attention although I don't think it will be a house I remember in the long run. Ghost town was nice and had a really cool affect which I have personally never seen before.
They made it rain in the first room you walk into.
Lunatics was very similar to alice except I felt like every room had strobe effects, not white strobes but neon lights to make the effects 3d, which got tiresome after a while. TCM was a classic house, although I had few scare actors in the maze when I went through so I didn't get the full effect.
When you leave the tent they themed the outside and have people walking around with, you guessed it, chainsaws
Tomb of the Ancients was my favorite house of the night, I even did it twice. It had many different effects and although it didn't have many spots for scare actors when there was a spot it was really well hidden and got me every time.
Also the ending had a velociraptor looking thing with arms. It was pretty cool and unexpected

Moving onto the scare zones, Vamp 55 was better then I thought it was going to be, so that was a plus. Chance in hell reminded me of a much smaller version of psychotherapy which worked well with the props and location. Survive or Die had nice effects but was overall underwhelming. I think I've become accustomed to having big props in the New York streets and there are only the car and some barrels that get added after hours and make the space feel empty, although the projection mapping is a nice to have back. Dead Mans Wharf was amazing to look at, looks like pirates of the Caribbean and the flying dutchman's crew, although it was a very small area, which was expected. Lair of the Banshee had no scare actors in it when I went though so I can't say too much about it.

B&T was just like any other B&T, although I didn't care too much for the protagonist too much but it was still a fun show. Didn't get to see Academy of Villains

I don't think theres one house that will stick out as a rotten egg (I'm looking at you RUN!). Overall a solid year!
 
I was watching videos of the zones and I kind of wish Survive or Die or Vamp 55 would have traded places with Dead Mans Wharf.
It looked like Dead Man's wharf could have been really amazing with a bigger street and more boat props.
it looks like Vamp55 would be a zone that would work better in a smaller place.it looked too spread out. oh well lol. such is life
 
Last edited:
Can someone tell me how to use spoiler tags? I want to post a little review.

I just used the spoiler tag for the first time myself.

Hover your mouse over the option that says "Insert..." (at the top of the text box - 3rd icon to the right of the "Smilies" option)

Spoiler is the second option. Preview your post first to make sure it looks right. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: IAmFloridaBorn
Okay! So My First trip to HHN in over 5 years! I had a blast! I went into every house except Exorcist (I don't tolerate things of that nature too well). I even did Walking Dead and I've never been a fan! So I'll share my reviews of personal opinions only. Last time I was there Ammity, Twister, and Disaster were all houses lol.

Halloween - This is where we started. Creepy house, but tons of fun! Great scare spots especially with the setting inside! Easy queue.

Tomb of the Ancients - Favorite house! Excellent use of props and characters! My favorite by far. Reminded me of the Mummy Ride so much. Very quick queue as well.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Okay so I've never seen the movie but of course just from browsing and tweeting, I'm aware of what it is. The house to me wasn't scary. Absolutely smelled horrible (on purpose maybe?) and was a bit creepy, but more so funny because of the accents of the scare actors. Sound just like a few people I know personally from Texas lol. I just thought it had entirely too much going on too closely together and that made anticipating actor locations in that house a bit easy. But absolutely awesome setting and atmosphere.

Lunatics Playground 3D: You Wont Stand A Chance - This was a strange and interesting house. Reminds me of Laff Trakk at Hershey Park, but on foot. Not sure if the 3D was needed, but I will admit it set a very cool affect to the actors and props used in the house. Another word to use is crazy. The house was crazy but definitely fun!

Bill and Ted - Didn't get a Chance to do Bill and Ted. Not even sure what it is, but the way people were lining up, I plan on doing it next time.

Dead Man's Wharf (Scarezone) - One of the coolest Scarezones I've ever seen. The Fog effect, Music, and the eerie feeling being especially along the lagoon made everything gel together. The customs the actors used were sick! I actually ran because they terrified me.
Here are a few photos of that scare zone.
0915160019b_zpsu3dqgb1j.jpg

0915160019c_zpsadeok0dk.jpg


Survive or Die Apocalypse (Scarezone) - Probably my favorite scarezone. The sheer size and action from Fallon all the way down to Right before Louie's Pizza made this an epic scare zone.l The dark streets of New York, eerie Halloween music, and screams of people mixed with fog on a wide street creates great opportunity. This scarezone also had the ultra awesome affect of some creative lighting upon the facades with effects of buildings turning into rubble and collapsing, added great great energy to an already live streetscape for that scarezone!

The Walking Dead - Not a fan of the series, so this was originally one of the houses we were not going to do along with Exorcist, but we decided to give it a shot. Initially, just blood wrenching, stomach turning once you walk in, but the house is a must do because of the ending. Won't give that away but it really made that entire house worth it!

Ghost Town: Curse of Lightening Gulch - This house had the uniqueness of looks and setting, but the actors couldn't do much. The Music could have been a bit more dark, and the layout was a bit funky hindering the actors from actually being scary, more so existing. Great idea bad execution?

Skipped Exorcist

American Horror Story - I absolutely hated the queue for this. But it moved so it made it bearable. The house though, WOW! All I can say is BOOOOOOOOOOOM! Straight CREEP! and FREAK! Spot on! Loved it. Very tight turns and made some awesome scare scenes. Had so much going on but not too much. The lighting, turns, and hanging materials made this house an absolute horror ( in the best way possible). THIS IS A MUST DO AND DO IT FIRST IF POSSIBLE!

Last but not least in any shape or form, Krampus - First off, we shifted away from this one because of the crazy wait times! it went down and averaged about 20 minutes or so but it started off crowded! The LOOKS! AWESOME. Here are a few not so good pictures of the exterior.
0914162349b_zpsxxzuqgd1.jpg

0914162349a_zpspmhgkn5n.jpg

And one of the entrance basically! I love the cold air and sounds that makes it feel like you are in the setting!
0914162350_zpstc6megqo.jpg

Krampus was fun. I wasn't too afraid because the scare actors were short lol. It was funny. Oh and the Kitchen smelled absolutely delightful! It brought more excitement than horror but def one of my favorites purely because of the atmosphere! I will say, it was a bit short though. This one should be tweaked the most. This one is one of the houses that should probably only let a few people go at a time. IDK if that is something they can do but the layout isn't set up for a continuous flow! It drives the actors scare ability down in that house.

In All, tons of fun even without the rides! I also forgot to mention the scare zone between Beginning of World Expo and Mels was weak. I didn't even realize it was a scare zone. Hopefully it was just for the night though.

I also want to note, the lights all over the park had some awesome lights and these were my favorite. Made the night sky even more awesome.
0915160034a_zps62hf36yl.jpg


Hopefully I did spoilers correctly. First time using them.