HHN 25: The Walking Dead: The Living and the Dead

[OrlandoGuy]

The Walking Dead being back is bad news, no if ands or buts. But at least with 9 houses this year, it doesn't hurt too badly. It's just going to suck seeing The Walking Dead merch and signage all throughout the park when it should be taking a back seat to Jack and the 25th anniversary.

Signage around the park will be 100% Jack. Of that I am positive. As far as external marketing, we may see a few signs promoting Walking Dead (probably should be in the upper echelon of promoted houses like Cabin in the Woods, From Dusk Til Dawn, etc.) but Jack will still dominate most commercials and imagery on ads.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

I may be in the minority here but I loved TWD house last year.

It was my favorite house last year.

 

[keeper]

. But by all means, enjoy Howl-O-Scream. You can hit that twice a decade and be solid.

I actually had more fun in one visit to HOS last year than a whole season of visits to HHN. In the past I've been an every other year guy for HOS and for the first time did a two year in a row visit and had a great time. Yes, its not fair to compare due to budgets. Yes they are apples and oranges. I would, however, put The Voodoo house and Dead Fall up against HHN's best knowing they could hold their own. The event is now what HHN used to be back in the day....that's not a bad thing.

 

[UNIrd]

I have a great time at Howl-O-Scream but they've been repeating houses more than ever. I'm taking more years off between visits than I ever have before.

 

[MillenniumDragons]

I've only been to HHN 20 & 21 and I'm not entirely sold on attending this year yet. Walking Dead has been so painful to watch anymore and I forced myself to watch the majority of season 5. The two draws for me really are Jack and AWIL returning.

 

[Clive]

So I'm "selfish" now for disliking Walking Dead? Give me a break.

The nature of Halloween Horror Nights is stuff comes and goes, year by year. Sometimes there are sequels or retooled attempts at an older idea, but for the most part the deal has been "the stuff this year will be gone next year." That's part of the pull - HHN trained you to attend every year so you wouldn't "miss" anything.

I wouldn't mind Walking Dead nearly as much if it didn't choke out every other element of the event. For three years, it's been the key marketing piece, taken over scare zones, engulfed merchandising - the event's lost its actual identity and has become "Walking Dead" centered. HHN25 has the benefit of its anniversary status (and Jack, who comes along with that) to shield the usual WD onslaught. But I have a feeling it'll be back next year.

Oh, also, even though it's been said to death: the houses haven't been very good. I didn't go last year (in large part due to the continued lack of identity/IP deluge), but the two houses before it were awful and meh, respectively. TWD doesn't lend itself well to a haunted house because it isn't a horror property, it's a television drama. The excitement from the series isn't derived from Walkers shambling at me.

We went from "stating realistic observations" to bashing the people pointing out that this is pretty creatively bankrupt. Someone has to make noise if we want anything to change.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

So I'm "selfish" now for disliking Walking Dead? Give me a break.

The nature of Halloween Horror Nights is stuff comes and goes, year by year. Sometimes there are sequels or retooled attempts at an older idea, but for the most part the deal has been "the stuff this year will be gone next year." That's part of the pull - HHN trained you to attend every year so you wouldn't "miss" anything.

I wouldn't mind Walking Dead nearly as much if it didn't choke out every other element of the event. For three years, it's been the key marketing piece, taken over scare zones, engulfed merchandising - the event's lost its actual identity and has become "Walking Dead" centered. HHN25 has the benefit of its anniversary status (and Jack, who comes along with that) to shield the usual WD onslaught. But I have a feeling it'll be back next year.

Oh, also, even though it's been said to death: the houses haven't been very good. I didn't go last year (in large part due to the continued lack of identity/IP deluge), but the two houses before it were awful and meh, respectively. TWD doesn't lend itself well to a haunted house because it isn't a horror property, it's a television drama. The excitement from the series isn't derived from Walkers shambling at me.

We went from "stating realistic observations" to bashing the people pointing out that this is pretty creatively bankrupt. Someone has to make noise if we want anything to change.

It all depends on what IPs will be there next year. I think we'll see another icon next year, so focusing on the icon and main IP like this year (Jack and FVJ) is probably the route they'll go. Unless The Purge comes back, there's really no other IP they can pick as the main draw next year IMO.

 

[SeventyOne]

:horse:

Not sure if you mean the IP, or the inevitable "I'm tired of TWD"/"But gen pop still lines up 2 hours for it" discussion this thread will devolve into. I agree either way.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Confirmed Via twitter, (Thank you Hate for asking)

The location of "The Walking Dead: The Living and The Dead" will be located at the Parade Building.

 

[Brian G.]

Confirmed Via twitter, (Thank you Hate for asking)

The location of "The Walking Dead: The Living and The Dead" will be located at the Parade Building.

Was Drew, actually.

 

[Shucker]

Wasnt it in the Parade building the second year?

 

[Brian G.]

Wasnt it in the Parade building the second year?

Yes. And a much better location. Parade location always seems to have better flow of traffic.

 

[Cole]

Agreed, nice to know it isn't taking up a soundstage too

 

[RevFreako]

This one sounds way more interesting than last year's. I'm excited.

 

[Mockingjay]

My brother is a huge TWD fan and is happy to hear that it is returning. Last year I felt that the house itself was a strong house and as long as it's just as strong this year, with scenes, actors and otherwise, I won't have a problem with it being at the event.

I just want to go back to when Mike had said that we are going to have DOUBLE the scareactors in this year's event. If they were to do this house the right way, I would start out by overloading the end scene with scareactor walkers teeming out of the semi-truck Walker trap area. Which would definitely account for a portion of the additional 'bodies' that they said that they were going to have for the event.

I'm also not a huge fan of the subtitle they gave the house this year. Wishful thinking that this is the only thing that I'm not a huge fan of with this house.

Yes. And a much better location. Parade location always seems to have better flow of traffic.

Would you say that this is because of the way the queueing is set up over at the Parade building or is it simply because there is a lot more square footage compared to over where it was located at the soundstage?

 

[Nick]

I have a great time at Howl-O-Scream but they've been repeating houses more than ever. I'm taking more years off between visits than I ever have before.

HOS has no where near the budget that HHN does. HHN's makeup and costuming teams have a bigger budget than all of HOS. I've worked both events as a scare actor. The stark contrast in quality you notice in the sets, makeup (its all do it yourself at HOS), backstage rooms, every thing is just to a much lower quality... EXCEPT the actors.

The actors are much better at HOS.

 

[romo]

Thats a good point... with last year being THE BIG ONE ....how do you progress to this year????Do you do the same size/scareactors as last year? how do you go out with a bang now that you went all big last year?

TWD is what it is....we who have attended HHN for 10 plus years may not like it but like everyone says it is a business decision to make money!! its not like the old days where HHN was made to bring in people during the off season... Do i want to see TWD gone? Of course!!!! the only thing i can say is that i had a pretty good run through that house last year and thats all that i can ask from a house...

TWD ultimatley brings a bigger budget to HHN because of the crowds it attracts , which this leads to more money into other houses that we fans want to see... so basically its just a mute point now...

 

[romo]

I've only been to HHN 20 & 21 and I'm not entirely sold on attending this year yet. Walking Dead has been so painful to watch anymore and I forced myself to watch the majority of season 5. The two draws for me really are Jack and AWIL returning.

Take it from someone who has attended the last 10 years... if not for anything else come for jack!!! he is an awesome icon and brings such a vibe to the event!!!

 

[Lucky Planet]

I personally know a couple of people that would never be caught at HHN that are going this year because of Walking Dead.
One of them is very young, (I think the young kid might only do the walking dead and skip the rest)

I wouldn't care as much if they could make the houses fun, but there are only so many ways that you can do a zombie house until it becomes boring and stale.
If this was anything else and could be done differently it wouldn't be so bad.
If it was vampires or True Blood or witches or whatever, they could at least change it up a bit.
But zombies are probably the lamest and most boring thing as far as haunts go. They can't talk, they can't run or launch at you. they can't scream, they have to move slowly and moan....... they really are the lamest when it comes to haunt events. (not just walking dead)

I wish they at least made it fun, you know? at least make it feel different (Besides the sets) make it exciting. But every walking dead project at Universal feels the same. the sets might change but it just feels the same.
And don't forget that Universal was entirely covered by walkers in 2013... if you were a Walking Dead fan, THAT was the year you should have never missed (it had the best house too, yes, I do think 2013 was the best house)

every year there is always a house that i skip and this year I guess I am glad Walking Dead is there to eat crowds. I wish I could be excited for this but i just cannot feel excitement for it

Like I said, if the IP was related to UFOs and aliens or mutants or something at least I could get excited but zombies have become one of the lamest things Universal has done.

 

[kingcooger]

I personally know a couple of people that would never be caught at HHN that are going this year because of Walking Dead.
One of them is very young, (I think the young kid might only do the walking dead and skip the rest)

I wouldn't care as much if they could make the houses fun, but there are only so many ways that you can do a zombie house until it becomes boring and stale.

I wish they at least made it fun, you know?

I know exactly what you mean which is why I have been wanting a "Zombiegeddon" sequel house or (if we have to use an IP) "Return of the Living Dead" or "Z Nation".