HHN 31: Bugs: Eaten Alive

[Floyd of Fright]

I wish they kept the whole 50’s aspect through the house; random civilians in vintage clothing rather than generic scientists, more vibrant colors and have a distorted lobby music in the house to make it more comedic.

I could have lived in that 50's look for the entire house. It seems they feel houses always have to evolve, but if DMP is any indication, people are willing to go along with a strong environment over an evolving storyline anytime.

 

[Tbad556]

New Universal podcast episode just dropped:

Halloween Horror Nights Haunted Tales - Bugs: Eaten Alive

Podcast Episode · Discover Universal · S1 Bonus · 21m

podcasts.apple.com

 

[Lucky Planet]

Finally did it,
Every single scare I saw was a human.... Only one big creature ..... Very disappointing. People melting or mutated . But it felt like all scares come from humans. Besides the little bugs glued I saw no puppet bugs or anything ( perhaps it was a cast change. ) All I saw was humans only
Very strange house. Needed more giant bugs. Not very funny. Not scary.
This and the witches coven house feel too experimental. The concepts for both didn't translate as well as we hoped. Yes the walls are gross with plastic bugs but all the human scares werent great

 

[HHN Maddux]

Noticed that the casts are starting to become more aggressive, had a very intense run last night, it was awesome.

 

[GA-MBIT]

I really like this one? Feel very unique compared to any other HHN house I've been in, and honestly I'm glad there aren't a ton of huge bugs everywhere. A bug house should make have you leave itching yourself to get any more of the tiny guys off of you, and with the little blasts of air, the abundant SIF, the Graveyard style Sensory room and the bugs lining the walls it really does give me that kinda feeling. I also really love the opening hallway where they clearly prep you with close-up shots of gross maggot nests and descriptions of "horrible disgusting pests" clearly priming you for the pretty different HHN experience you're about to go through. And they also do have quite a few giant bugs, the huge Fly/Roach thing in the kitchen is one of the craziest HHN costumes I've ever seen. The "They're hatching inside me" guy is always great, the Spider that jumps on the glass tank is fun when I catch it. There's a lot to like here!

Went in with someone who has sensory issues and really dislikes bugs and they were left scrambling out of there, that's the goal and it reached it in my view. Let's go Bug House!

 

[shiekra38]

This one was kinda flat for me and didn't hit near as hard as the one at HOS a few years ago.

There were some ideas, but overall it seemed like they wanted to go the more comedic sci-fi route...which is fine..but that's not particularly scary

I mean, it's bugs, they don't need a whole lot of help to unnerve people...meh, this will probably go on my list of poo poo houses

 

[Darko]

Finally did it,
Every single scare I saw was a human.... Only one big creature ..... Very disappointing. People melting or mutated . But it felt like all scares come from humans. Besides the little bugs glued I saw no puppet bugs or anything ( perhaps it was a cast change. ) All I saw was humans only
Very strange house. Needed more giant bugs. Not very funny. Not scary.
This and the witches coven house feel too experimental. The concepts for both didn't translate as well as we hoped. Yes the walls are gross with plastic bugs but all the human scares werent great

I personally really enjoyed it, and even though I wasn't a massive fan of Coven, I feel like we need experimental houses like these. Never know what works unless you try new things. Keeps things fresh.

 

[Lucky Planet]

This one was kinda flat for me and didn't hit near as hard as the one at HOS a few years ago.

There were some ideas, but overall it seemed like they wanted to go the more comedic sci-fi route...which is fine..but that's not particularly scary

I mean, it's bugs, they don't need a whole lot of help to unnerve people...meh, this will probably go on my list of poo poo houses

I personally really enjoyed it, and even though I wasn't a massive fan of Coven, I feel like we need experimental houses like these. Never know what works unless you try new things. Keeps things fresh.

House like this one and stuff like chupacabra feel like we're designed like a ride.
Like they would work with specific stops at specific times. If you were doing a ride like spiderman or pirates of the Caribbean, your car goes by a scene at a specific time. Where you see everything.
But in a house with a conga line, that style of set up wouldnt work ( because depending on timing, you miss a lot )
It almost feels like this house would work as a regular ride with all the specific stops meant to be seen. ( Chupacabra depending on the timing and cast change, you could miss all the cat creatures)

 

[Darko]

House like this one and stuff like chupacabra feel like we're designed like a ride.
Like they would work with specific stops at specific times. If you were doing a ride like spiderman or pirates of the Caribbean, your car goes by a scene at a specific time. Where you see everything.
But in a house with a conga line, that style of set up wouldnt work ( because depending on timing, you miss a lot )
It almost feels like this house would work as a regular ride with all the specific stops meant to be seen. ( Chupacabra depending on the timing and cast change, you could miss all the cat creatures)

Yeah, but most of the houses are designed like that. Every house you're nearly guaranteed to miss some scares. Depends usually more on the flow of the line than the house itself. That being said however, that minecart in Coven took WAY too long to reset. Where as the train in The Weeknd reset so much faster. Distance the effect traveled may have been its problem though.

 

[shiekra38]

But in a house with a conga line, that style of set up wouldn't work ( because depending on timing, you miss a lot )

That's literally every house and something I expect from HHN

I was speaking more to the concept, it could have had some basic and unnerving effects that weren't scareactor driven

tbh I expected more practical stuff like air blasts, fishing line throughout, and even some wall effects in mostly darkness

I suppose I was just expecting something different

I will say again that I thought HOS nailed the infested mid-century hotel/pavilion vibe much better

 

[Lucky Planet]

Yeah, but most of the houses are designed like that. Every house you're nearly guaranteed to miss some scares. Depends usually more on the flow of the line than the house itself. That being said however, that minecart in Coven took WAY too long to reset. Where as the train in The Weeknd reset so much faster. Distance the effect traveled may have been its problem though.

That's literally every house and something I expect from HHN

I was speaking more to the concept, it could have had some basic and unnerving effects that weren't scareactor driven

tbh I expected more practical stuff like air blasts, fishing line throughout, and even some wall effects in mostly darkness

I suppose I was just expecting something different

I will say again that I thought HOS nailed the infested mid-century hotel/pavilion vibe much better

Missing scares and missing some actors is different than missing entire scenes. I know that missing some mummies in the mummy house it's ok. Missing some Michael Myers is not too bad.
But if Laurie and Michael are both missing from their room in Halloween then it gets bad lol.
That happened in yeti. It's not only missing the monster but sometimes the entire room is lost because of the set up time. Or missing key characters.

I know houses have been set up like that for 30 years basically, but sometimes is worse than others. I know it's the way this game goes, but I feel like there's some pretty bad ones in bugs and chupacabra.

 

[Darko]

That's literally every house and something I expect from HHN

I was speaking more to the concept, it could have had some basic and unnerving effects that weren't scareactor driven

tbh I expected more practical stuff like air blasts, fishing line throughout, and even some wall effects in mostly darkness

I suppose I was just expecting something different

I will say again that I thought HOS nailed the infested mid-century hotel/pavilion vibe much better

Funny how I feel the opposite about the HOS house in comparison to this one to you. But that's the way of the haunt. Different things work for different folks.

 

[shiekra38]

Missing scares and missing some actors is different than missing entire scenes. I know that missing some mummies in the mummy house it's ok. Missing some Michael Myers is not too bad.
But if Laurie and Michael are both missing from their room in Halloween then it gets bad lol.
That happened in yeti. It's not only missing the monster but sometimes the entire room is lost because of the set up time. Or missing key characters.

I know houses have been set up like that for 30 years basically, but sometimes is worse than others. I know it's the way this game goes, but I feel like there's some pretty bad ones in bugs and chupacabra.

Yes, bad runs are entirely possible (hello cast change)

That's why I judge a house on scare, set, AND concept...not just scares

Dead Man's wasn't particularly scary to me, but was one of my favorites of the night

 

[SeventyOne]

House still has queue problems. Posted 65 -- despite the line ending somewhere by Nightmare fuel -- Express took 35 -40. Long periods where neither line moved. Saw half a dozen parties just abandon it and walk back.

Also the TVs as you enter are out. Audio plays but no video.

 

[Darko]

House still has queue problems. Posted 65 -- despite the line ending somewhere by Nightmare fuel -- Express took 35 -40. Long periods where neither line moved. Saw half a dozen parties just abandon it and walk back.

Also the TVs as you enter are out. Audio plays but no video.

Noticed that with the TVs when we went too. What are they suppose to show?

As for the express line, didn’t have an issue with it but we also went through when Nightmare Fuel was doing a Show so maybe that affected it. We only waited in express a couple minutes max for Bugs.

 

[SeventyOne]

Noticed that with the TVs when we went too. What are they suppose to show?

Sort of a 1950s infomercial/promotional film for the device. Little animated B-Cide too IIRC.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Finally did this house with the full cast and seeing every scare. Much much better, but it is still feels messy as a concept.
I really loved the giant mosquito and the other bug actors, but the house still has too many human victims. I kinda wish it had more giant bugs.
The first time I did it I think I literally missed every single giant bug actor . I honestly only saw humans that time.
This time I saw every single scare, and I get the concept. I liked it, but, midway it kinda doesn't make sense anymore? You go from a home to like a research laboratory with soldiers?

 

[Darko]

Finally did this house with the full cast and seeing every scare. Much much better, but it is still feels messy as a concept.
I really loved the giant mosquito and the other bug actors, but the house still has too many human victims. I kinda wish it had more giant bugs.
The first time I did it I think I literally missed every single giant bug actor . I honestly only saw humans that time.
This time I saw every single scare, and I get the concept. I liked it, but, midway it kinda doesn't make sense anymore? You go from a home to like a research laboratory with soldiers?

Pretty sure the reason you go from House to lab is cause the setting is meant to be a sorta fake house in a pavilion (hence Pavilion 31) that’s hosting tech they are working on. In other words, it takes place in like a warehouse/laboratory setting and the house is just a concept House you are touring through.

 

[ultimateforce]

Listen to that Universal podcast for the backstory.

 

[MikePat]

If only this house appeared at next year's HHN, then this viral "ant face" would have been the scariest thing to include in a "bug house..."