Still have a month to go, but I feel like we've hit "peak HHN" where my rankings probably won't change.
Overall
The event is solid this year and feels like a pre-COVID HHN. Same as every year, the event's quality and design are top-tier, yet held back from their atrocious operations in all aspects (outside of the houses/zones themselves). Crowds this year are no joke, and honestly, not fun during that 8-12 peak time.
Quick Summary
Overall: After 3 years of Covid, HHN finally feels normal
Houses: solid lineup - best overall lineup since 29
Scare Zones: decent
Shows: solid as always, but the biggest standout point is that the event needs (and has the demand) more stage shows
Food & Drinks: drinks suck, food is ok - I'll be bringing my popcorn bucket from now on to snack lol
Houses
1. The Darkest Deal - a run through this house when your eyes haven't adjusted is a top-tier experience. This was at the bottom of my hype list, actors took that personally
2. Oddfellow - felt like a soundstage house, just amazing what they can fit into these tents. Loved some of the creative scares/effects in the house
3. Exorcist - was dead last in my hype list, was worried they would go cheap, I was wrong. Solid scares, sets, and some of the actors here are killing it
4. Universal Monsters - another solid Monsters house
5. YETI - was at #9 on my list in week 1, since then the yetis have been more aggressive
6. Last of Us - loved the huge sets, felt like a Walking Dead house
7. Blood Moon - just like Dead Man's, great atmosphere, but suffers from repetitive/bland scares
8. Dueling Dragons - great idea, (would probably rank 3-5 in other years), but something felt off.
Loved the dueling idea, BUT the timing of the actors is off. You have to look back often to see the actors since they have to wait to recognize someone is walking their path lol
9. Stranger Things - not the worst house, but definitely the biggest "miss" in HHN history? Some of the sets are fine, but a good chunk is cheap. Shame since, in my opinion, the first ST house was the 2nd best adaptation of an IP property (Halloween 2014 was the best)
--- the far reaches of hell---
10. Chucky - just an embarrassing effort (actors are the only saving grace for the house)
Scare Zones
1. Dark Zodiac - similar to Graveyard last year, love the atmosphere and costumes
2. Vamp '69 - great atmosphere, perfect for HHN and its location
3. Jungle of Doom - loved the idea, but not a huge fan of some of the costumes (though other "safari" guide characters would allow actors to be a bit scarier/move faster) Actors do their best with the size restrictions of the zone
--
huge gap--
4. Shipyard 32 - I get the idea, but it just doesn't work well. They need to stop artificially causing bottlenecks in this zone... it's not fun when actors intentionally place themselves off to the sides
5. Dr. Oddfellow - a poor excuse for an HHN zone. It's not a bad zone, actors are great, but it's not the "tentpole" scare zone HHN deserves
Shows
Nightmare Fuel - still a great show, should (or something similar) be at HHN each year... BUT the event needs another stage show and lagoon show.
M3GAN - don't understand why a small temp stage wasn't built for them. Hard to see them even if your near the front of the crowd lol
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Loved the Peacock bar idea - but the event could probably support another one in the NY area
- Creating a "new" icon (or general theme) tying the event together is a good sign for future HHNs
- House operations - no longer annoying
- Scare Actor staffing - haven't seen empty boo holes outside of cast changes
- Death Eaters - loved it, hopefully they expand on the idea next year
Cons
- HHN capacity is far below what it needs to be for the current crowds in every aspect (food, seating, shows, etc.)
- Lots of heat-exhausted guests/vomiting this year - probably due to a lack of shade/misters during stay & scream and the heat this year
- Lack of queue entertainment, felt like TheWeeknd queue last year made them realize people wouldn't complain too much if they had something to do while in the queue. No idea why projectors aren't used from Day 1 at the very least
- Crowds - how HHN didn't implement a chaperone policy after last year's incident was an interesting choice
- Stroller Parking - HHN apparently needs to start implementing dedicated stroller parking for next year's event at this rate
Great year, but I feel like the next big step for the event is to figure out the capacity/operations issue next year.