Jon Fu
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
Our review of this year's VIP Experience is up: http://insideuniversal.net/2014/09/halloween-horror-nights-2014-vip-experience-review/
HHN Hollywood Speculation/News - 2014
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Jon Fu
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
Not much, to be frank. It seemed like an extension of Mask-A-Raid with a few actors popping out. It's fun for what it is, but I thought its position was awkward considering people went in and out of the lounge to use its restroom or to meet their dinner reservation. Me personally, I found it more of a nuisance than a perk.
DSC02586 by InsideUniversal.net, on Flickr
DSC02590 by InsideUniversal.net, on Flickr
Uh why isn't Silly Swirly open up? At the very least it eats people up and I know tons of people who would ride it at least in an ironic sense during the event.
Not keeping Super Silly Fun Land open and having the area's audio play warped/creepy carnival music is a missed opportunity.
On the bright side, they now play famous horror tunes and creepy midway music in Simpsons Plaza. Not sure if that was present last year.
I didn't think so..! I just remember it being a quite dead area. I got quite giddy hearing creepy carnival music in that area. All we need now is a Treehouse of Horror scarezone (especially with a new Springfield area of the park).
Jon Fu
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
Based off Jonathan's experiences tonight, I think Horror Nights might have overgrown seven mazes. These wait times are atrocious.
According to the latest Orlando United podcast, HHN over there is even having capacity issues.
I'm extremely nervous for next Thursday, if I have to be honest. I have a game plan but it involves a lot of luck.
...wish me luck.
I'm extremely nervous for next Thursday, if I have to be honest. I have a game plan but it involves a lot of luck.
...wish me luck.
Jon Fu
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
First Stab versus Early Entry - know the difference: http://insideuniversal.net/2014/10/halloween-horror-nights-survival-guide-first-stab-and-early-entry/
Getting all the mazes done (including Terror Tram) is damn near impossible without Early Entry or First Stab.
Jon Fu
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
Quite honestly, I think it's become a miserable experience for most general admission guests. Two hour queues, two huge bottlenecks and no side entertainment whatsoever.
Honest to god, good luck, because you're going to need it if crowds swell up like they have so far.
What's your current plan if you don't mind me asking?
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We're going to do early entry, scramble down to the lower lot and try hitting up all three. My sister is a huge Walking Dead fan so obviously that'll go first, and then AVP since I'm looking forward to that the most. I'm fairly sure we may skip Til Dusk Til Dawn if the line is longer than 30 min at that point. Then it's pretty much luck from there: I'll try to see if anybody is hanging around Transformers that I recognize (or even a maze lead/sup downstairs) and try to score some Gate A passes but with the madness that HHN is I'm not counting on it. If we do nab some, then we'll for sure hit up every maze. If not, then we'll just do AWiL, Terror Tram and Face Off. I'll enjoy the Dark Christmas scare zone and probably ride Despicable Me/TF and call it a night.
I'm totally fine with not experiencing the full event, but I do have my priorities. As long as I get to do AWiL and AVP, I'm a happy camper.
EDIT: also if I see Ben Salisbury, I'll yell at him to bring back Bill and Ted
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- Aug 2, 2013
- 634
- 418
I went Sunday (5th). No need for a review of mazes - everyone has done that. I'm a big fan of the shows. Sad that there are now none to see. The whole thing is a sprint at the beginning and then a mess the rest of the night. I didn't feel like we were having much fun; "Gotta go (there) quick to avoid a long line" - "Quick, get through this so we can get (there) before too many people do." Then it just slows down. Bottle necks all over, shuffling along like the Walking Dead trying to get from place to place, long lines to get a snack. Damn I wanted to head out to CityWalk to get a meal.
For me; not worth it. I love the art direction of most of the mazes - much better than Knott's - but with nothing to do other than get in line it felt like a chore rather than a fun way to spend the night. I'm sure a FOL would help the wait in line, but without something to do other than mazes I found myself frustrated by the whole experience
For me; not worth it. I love the art direction of most of the mazes - much better than Knott's - but with nothing to do other than get in line it felt like a chore rather than a fun way to spend the night. I'm sure a FOL would help the wait in line, but without something to do other than mazes I found myself frustrated by the whole experience
I know it's late, but here's my review of HHN this year:
An American Werewolf in London: First maze we hit of the night. If my sig and avatar don't give you any hints, I'm a huge fan of the movie. I got to see the maze firsthand in Orlando, and it was amazing. You could imagine how excited I was for this one. I got chills when Blue Moon was playing at the facade and lines from the movie were being played. Of course, I naturally had to ask the bartender at the Slaughtered Lamb what that star was on the wall for.
Anyway, I REALLY enjoyed this house. I think this is one of the best, if not THE best maze Hollywood has ever done. I can't compare it to TM: Back in Business since I never got to see that wonderful house, but it was definably one of the best I've ever seen. The puppets looked GREAT. Man they were scary! I also loved the distraction of light in the theater scene. That really threw me off. One thing I will say is that I would give this maze an A+, but the black always between rooms were EXTREMELY annoying. Immediately jumping from scene-to-scene would have been far more preferable that just blank hallways that detract from the experience. Because of that, I'm only bumping it down to a solid A.
BTW, in comparison to Orlando, I have to be truthful and say that I prefer their version. I mean, our version was great, but Orlando did an amazing job with it. They had a lot of space to work with, and they had Piccadilly Circus. I realize we didn't have a lot of space to work with (I mean, they utilized the space pretty well for what they got), but they could have done more if they didn't have those blank transitions. At least Orlando's transitions were smooth. Still, I REALLY enjoyed this maze (I thought our version did a better Slaughtered Lamb), but I have to give the edge to Orlando. Still for Hollywood.....Best. Maze. EVER.
Grade: A
The Walking Dead: End of the Line: I thoroughly enjoyed the mazes from the last two years, but I have to say, this was the weakest of the bunch. The prison set was cool as always, but the whole maze was weak. It was bland and meh. I really hope this is the last year of it. Even if it is completely new with Terminus, it would still get old.
Grace: C
From Dusk 'till Dawn: I really liked this one. I thought the set design was fantastic in this house. The cast was great and I loved all of the detail that went into the sets. I really liked this one. Don't have much to say about this except what I just said. Solid.
Grade: A-
AVP: Alien Vs. Predator: Holy. Crap. This was absolutely spectacular. This was definitely worthy of a sound stage house. The detail put into the spaceship was INCREDIBLE. I loved the spider alien scares and the trophy room. That was really cool. The costumes for the predators was also mind-blowing. My only gripe was that the alien puppets looked a little bit like it was floating. I was hoping they could do a better job with that. The sets throughout the house were incredible and the end was spectacular. Great job Murdy and Chris. Well done. Give these guys a cookie and a beer for doing this property justice. I also loved the alien costume at the end.
Grade: A
Clowns 3D: Music by Slash: Before we went in, the line froze for over half an hour just so they could interview Slash IN FRONT OF THE MAZE and then escort him through with the media. That was incredibly annoying. A lot of people in the line got pissed off and starting chanting, "Go home Slash!" One guy behind me got REALLY upset and yelled obscenities at him. Another one yelled, "You're done Slash! You've been done 20 years ago! Get the f&$# out!" Yeah, that wasn't great. Sweet Lick's spiel got annoying after a while. ANYWAY, back to the house. I actually liked it far more than I thought I would. Because it was very claustrophobic in there, I thought the scares were pretty descent. The 3D worked pretty well and the rooms looked pretty cool. Yes, there were a lot of reused props, but I was still able to enjoy this. Pretty fun. I liked the ending.
Grade: B
Terror Tram: All I'm going to say is....stop. Please let this die. Kill it with fire and eat its newborn. There's a reason Terror Tram never got a long wait opening night. Take a hint Universal. Still crap as always.
Grade: F
Face Off: In the Flesh: Wow. I was really impressed how much they changed up. Still not a great maze, but this is by far, the strongest HoH overlay I've ever seen. I'm glad that House of Horrors went out with a bang. You will be missed. Still the weakest maze out of all of them IMO, but it's still a really good overlay.
Grade: C (Just because it's HoH.)
Dracula Untold: Am I the only one who found it odd that they were playing the Van Helsing music out front? The first part of the maze SCREAMED House of Horrors. It looked almost EXACTLY like it! The talent in this house was GREAT! The sets with the village were REALLY good! I also like how they incorporated the surrounding square pretty well as you're entering the building with the canvas. The hoarde scare was great and the sets were great. This is certainly the sleeper hit of the year. The only thing is, I would have preferred they do Dracula in HoH and have the Conjuring in Parisian. When you walk through there, you could see how they could have very easily converted HoH into Dracula, especially if they were notified ahead of time about its closure. That was very unexpected. Great hosue.
Grade: B+
Scarezones: They were GREAT> I have never seen HHN put so much effort and money into their zones. Great job! Dark Christmas was my favorite. I think we know what the original maze is going to be that Murdy should work on.
Last year, I was completely disappointed with the whole event. I was disappointed with Insidious, disappointed with how Evil Dead was pulled off, disappointed at the event was, disappointed with the slick move to cancel BIll and Ted, and just disappointed with everything. When Bill and Ted got pulled, some of you remember my rant about being done with HHN. At the time, I seriously WAS. I HAD it. I was determined that because so many people praised a mediocre year, I feared this year would be total garbage. After a while, rumors came in, speculation started, and after everything was announced, I figured it would be best to give this year a chance. Heck, I thought it would be worth it to buy the 12-night pass. Guess what....I. Friggin. LOVED this year. It made me forgive and forget the mediocrity of last year.
I will go as far as to say that this is my favorite year by a mile. I have never had so much fun at HHN in my life. I was really impressed with how all of the houses got a serious quality boost. Yes, Bill and Ted is gone and that is a bummer, but we got better maze quality, better scarezones (FINALLY!), and freakin' AVP! I think that's a very fair trade-off for Bill and Ted. I'm certain they'll be back next year, so I'm not bummed about it too much. Oh, and next year's Bill and Ted should be amazing knowing it's the 25th anniversary. There's also Star Wars, Back to the Future, maybe Ghostbusters and the Avengers to work with! So with that said, I was very impressed with HHN this year. I feel like Murdy and Chris have listened to at least most of my criticisms from past years and actually worked on it! Props to you guys! This is the first year where I've gone twice and I am anxious to go back a few more! I'm having withdrawals!
Also, the only thing I would say is probably the most obvious: Bring back Bill and Ted! Also, while I despise the Terror Tram, I want to say replace it with an eighth house, but then there's this to consider: HoH is gone, so they would have to build seven mazes from scratch. Plus, having Bill and Ted ain't going to be cheap so replacing it won't be an option. They can't just get rid of it because capacity would suck. No matter how much they try to improve it, it is still going to be bland. The best thing I have is that they need to replace Terror Tram with an express that will take us through Fast and Furious. That will still help with capacity and get rid of the awfulness that is TT.
As for the backlot, I didn't mind it, but man the crowds got up fast. I think having the tram there would be better. But yeah, that's all I have to say about this year. All I have left to say is....Dark Christmas maze....make it happen Murdy.
An American Werewolf in London: First maze we hit of the night. If my sig and avatar don't give you any hints, I'm a huge fan of the movie. I got to see the maze firsthand in Orlando, and it was amazing. You could imagine how excited I was for this one. I got chills when Blue Moon was playing at the facade and lines from the movie were being played. Of course, I naturally had to ask the bartender at the Slaughtered Lamb what that star was on the wall for.
BTW, in comparison to Orlando, I have to be truthful and say that I prefer their version. I mean, our version was great, but Orlando did an amazing job with it. They had a lot of space to work with, and they had Piccadilly Circus. I realize we didn't have a lot of space to work with (I mean, they utilized the space pretty well for what they got), but they could have done more if they didn't have those blank transitions. At least Orlando's transitions were smooth. Still, I REALLY enjoyed this maze (I thought our version did a better Slaughtered Lamb), but I have to give the edge to Orlando. Still for Hollywood.....Best. Maze. EVER.
Grade: A
The Walking Dead: End of the Line: I thoroughly enjoyed the mazes from the last two years, but I have to say, this was the weakest of the bunch. The prison set was cool as always, but the whole maze was weak. It was bland and meh. I really hope this is the last year of it. Even if it is completely new with Terminus, it would still get old.
Grace: C
From Dusk 'till Dawn: I really liked this one. I thought the set design was fantastic in this house. The cast was great and I loved all of the detail that went into the sets. I really liked this one. Don't have much to say about this except what I just said. Solid.
Grade: A-
AVP: Alien Vs. Predator: Holy. Crap. This was absolutely spectacular. This was definitely worthy of a sound stage house. The detail put into the spaceship was INCREDIBLE. I loved the spider alien scares and the trophy room. That was really cool. The costumes for the predators was also mind-blowing. My only gripe was that the alien puppets looked a little bit like it was floating. I was hoping they could do a better job with that. The sets throughout the house were incredible and the end was spectacular. Great job Murdy and Chris. Well done. Give these guys a cookie and a beer for doing this property justice. I also loved the alien costume at the end.
Grade: A
Clowns 3D: Music by Slash: Before we went in, the line froze for over half an hour just so they could interview Slash IN FRONT OF THE MAZE and then escort him through with the media. That was incredibly annoying. A lot of people in the line got pissed off and starting chanting, "Go home Slash!" One guy behind me got REALLY upset and yelled obscenities at him. Another one yelled, "You're done Slash! You've been done 20 years ago! Get the f&$# out!" Yeah, that wasn't great. Sweet Lick's spiel got annoying after a while. ANYWAY, back to the house. I actually liked it far more than I thought I would. Because it was very claustrophobic in there, I thought the scares were pretty descent. The 3D worked pretty well and the rooms looked pretty cool. Yes, there were a lot of reused props, but I was still able to enjoy this. Pretty fun. I liked the ending.
Grade: B
Terror Tram: All I'm going to say is....stop. Please let this die. Kill it with fire and eat its newborn. There's a reason Terror Tram never got a long wait opening night. Take a hint Universal. Still crap as always.
Grade: F
Face Off: In the Flesh: Wow. I was really impressed how much they changed up. Still not a great maze, but this is by far, the strongest HoH overlay I've ever seen. I'm glad that House of Horrors went out with a bang. You will be missed. Still the weakest maze out of all of them IMO, but it's still a really good overlay.
Grade: C (Just because it's HoH.)
Dracula Untold: Am I the only one who found it odd that they were playing the Van Helsing music out front? The first part of the maze SCREAMED House of Horrors. It looked almost EXACTLY like it! The talent in this house was GREAT! The sets with the village were REALLY good! I also like how they incorporated the surrounding square pretty well as you're entering the building with the canvas. The hoarde scare was great and the sets were great. This is certainly the sleeper hit of the year. The only thing is, I would have preferred they do Dracula in HoH and have the Conjuring in Parisian. When you walk through there, you could see how they could have very easily converted HoH into Dracula, especially if they were notified ahead of time about its closure. That was very unexpected. Great hosue.
Grade: B+
Scarezones: They were GREAT> I have never seen HHN put so much effort and money into their zones. Great job! Dark Christmas was my favorite. I think we know what the original maze is going to be that Murdy should work on.
Last year, I was completely disappointed with the whole event. I was disappointed with Insidious, disappointed with how Evil Dead was pulled off, disappointed at the event was, disappointed with the slick move to cancel BIll and Ted, and just disappointed with everything. When Bill and Ted got pulled, some of you remember my rant about being done with HHN. At the time, I seriously WAS. I HAD it. I was determined that because so many people praised a mediocre year, I feared this year would be total garbage. After a while, rumors came in, speculation started, and after everything was announced, I figured it would be best to give this year a chance. Heck, I thought it would be worth it to buy the 12-night pass. Guess what....I. Friggin. LOVED this year. It made me forgive and forget the mediocrity of last year.
I will go as far as to say that this is my favorite year by a mile. I have never had so much fun at HHN in my life. I was really impressed with how all of the houses got a serious quality boost. Yes, Bill and Ted is gone and that is a bummer, but we got better maze quality, better scarezones (FINALLY!), and freakin' AVP! I think that's a very fair trade-off for Bill and Ted. I'm certain they'll be back next year, so I'm not bummed about it too much. Oh, and next year's Bill and Ted should be amazing knowing it's the 25th anniversary. There's also Star Wars, Back to the Future, maybe Ghostbusters and the Avengers to work with! So with that said, I was very impressed with HHN this year. I feel like Murdy and Chris have listened to at least most of my criticisms from past years and actually worked on it! Props to you guys! This is the first year where I've gone twice and I am anxious to go back a few more! I'm having withdrawals!
Also, the only thing I would say is probably the most obvious: Bring back Bill and Ted! Also, while I despise the Terror Tram, I want to say replace it with an eighth house, but then there's this to consider: HoH is gone, so they would have to build seven mazes from scratch. Plus, having Bill and Ted ain't going to be cheap so replacing it won't be an option. They can't just get rid of it because capacity would suck. No matter how much they try to improve it, it is still going to be bland. The best thing I have is that they need to replace Terror Tram with an express that will take us through Fast and Furious. That will still help with capacity and get rid of the awfulness that is TT.
As for the backlot, I didn't mind it, but man the crowds got up fast. I think having the tram there would be better. But yeah, that's all I have to say about this year. All I have left to say is....Dark Christmas maze....make it happen Murdy.
Jon Fu
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
I guess Dracula Untold is the sleeper hit this year. Nothing remarkable, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Clowns, on the other hand, needs to go. What's up with the whole 3D concept? Doesn't it get repetitive?
I actually liked Clowns a lot, especially in comparison to Black Sabbath. I just feel like 3D mazes don't correlate correctly to mazes themed solely after artists/groups. This time around, it felt more like Slash wasn't center stage, so the trippy 3D neon effects made more sense with deranged clowns. Also, most of the mazes don't really have recognizable scents this year, though Clowns was an exception. I will admit, though, I nearly threw up in my mouth smelling the vomit-scented room.
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