The Old HHN 30 Speculation Thread (2020)

[The Storyteller]

I don't think that IT could be a megahouse, but it definitely won't be in one of the soundstages. Maybe Soundstage 24 but my guess is that it would be a Parade building event. Spider Pennywise isn't exactly something you can make the head of and slap a projection on it.

More wishful thinking, but maybe they can do what they did for 23 with TWD and have the "souls" of Pennywise's victims roaming around, spooking people in the queue. Would make the trek a lot more interesting.

 

[Wigglepebbles]

You’re probably gonna be at the opposite spectrum of a large majority of potential attendees.

I'm not totally against IT (pun intended) but it isn't a big seller for me. Especially after the mediocre second part.

The benefit would be that the family friendly talk would go completely silent. And It would make 30 feel like a big year.

Are you telling me that after the year were House of a 1000 corpses was a house there was still complaints about "tame" IPs!?

 

[Living Dead Dude]

I’m just gonna sit quietly and hope that maybe possibly we will get a sequel to leave it to cleaver 2 next year since we unfortunately didn’t get it this year

 

[Wigglepebbles]

I’m just gonna sit quietly and hope that maybe possibly we will get a sequel to leave it to cleaver 2 next year since we unfortunately didn’t get it this year

YES!! I never got to experience that house and the queque vids that were projected some years ago had me hooked. Sadly there were no videos inside the house; does anyone recall how was it?

 

[Brian G.]

YES!! I never got to experience that house and the queque vids that were projected some years ago had me hooked. Sadly there were no videos inside the house; does anyone recall how was it?

Awesome.



A lot of chainsaws.

 

[shiekra38]

I think there’s some important stuff to consider about this year’s spec.

1 - Mike is gone. It’s obvious, but this the first time in 15 years he won’t be involved in the event somehow. His fingerprints may linger, but it’s entirely possible that, without him, the event will take a completely different tact.

I don't hate this.

I think Mike did a lot for HHN creatively, but it is time for new blood...By that I mean old blood...But in a new position...So kind of new blood

You all get it

 

[JoshO]

I agree with some of the other comments that there aren't many new IPs to draw out of the hat. I honestly can't think of any IP that creative hasn't tackled besides the obvious Hellraiser and Conjuring movies.

 

[HHNSK]

Are you telling me that after the year were House of a 1000 corpses was a house there was still complaints about "tame" IPs!?

.... well it was tame.

Ghostbusters
KKFOS
Stranger Things
Video Games
Scare Zones have went through an abysmal regression since 27 in theme and performers

Packs of roaming children and the conversion of Mels into a daycare.

Sure you could walk to the back of the park and enjoy House of 1000 Corpses which was superb.

I mean its not tame like the Mouse, but it’s still pretty darn tame. I’m ok with that. It’s a theme park. However, IMO this year was a real regression for the event in this regard. I still really enjoyed it, but I am looking forward to new direction and I do think (despite efforts by Universal, Mike, and others) that we saw the “horrah” take a hit the past couple of years.

 

[shiekra38]

.... well it was tame.

Ghostbusters
KKFOS
Stranger Things
Video Games
Scare Zones have went through an abysmal regression since 27 in theme and performers

Packs of roaming children and the conversion of Mels into a daycare.

Sure you could walk to the back of the park and enjoy House of 1000 Corpses which was superb.

I mean its not tame like the Mouse, but it’s still pretty darn tame. I’m ok with that. It’s a theme park. However, IMO this year was a real regression for the event in this regard. I still really enjoyed it, but I am looking forward to new direction and I do think (despite efforts by Universal, Mike, and others) that we saw the “horrah” take a hit the past couple of years.

Scare Zones has been lackluster since they implemented that dang parade

They are super limited

Also, the scareactors literally have nothing they can do other than stomp and yell at you or put their hand in your face

 

[itsabee]

.... well it was tame.

Ghostbusters
KKFOS
Stranger Things
Video Games
Scare Zones have went through an abysmal regression since 27 in theme and performers

Packs of roaming children and the conversion of Mels into a daycare.

Sure you could walk to the back of the park and enjoy House of 1000 Corpses which was superb.

I mean its not tame like the Mouse, but it’s still pretty darn tame. I’m ok with that. It’s a theme park. However, IMO this year was a real regression for the event.

Yknow, as much as I talk around the subject, I think I’ve kind of come to a conclusive statement when it comes to regression. For those of you that have been going for years and years, I have a question: has HHN always banked so heavily on IPs? The most that I know of their marketing in years past comes from icons, from the interactive websites to the videos to the memory of seeing Jack iconography on a Burger King cup as a kid.

I know that big IPs have been used, but the thing is that this year and last year have been so heavily themed around Stranger Things and Ghostbusters. That’s what I’m kind of sick of. The ST merch in particular is irritating, because as much as children love it, that’s kind of the problem. While HHN has had ten houses both years, it seems like the only audience they care about IS the ST audience, like the whole event is just ABOUT ST. Hoodies and shirts and cups galore featuring just ST. My phone case has the Mindflayer and a demogorgon smack dab in the center because I wanted to rep HHN and that’s all they offered.

I’m not anti-tween, but I’m really strongly against the idea that the event needs to shove ST down everyone’s throats just because they know it will sell merch to those tweens. It’s uncreative and kind of patronizing. I haven’t been too bitter this year, but this is a culmination of all my thoughts every time I saw another ST item in the shops.

/endrant

 

[sjago13]

If bill and ted were to come back I would say put AoV on the music plaza stage. Reconfigure the ss22 queue to either enter from in front of minions like dusk till dawn or only have the queue use the back half of the plaza and add some more queue backstage. This would give plenty of room for people to stand and watch, entering from the rockit side of the plaza if the ss22 queue was still to use some of it.

 

[Darko]

Yknow, as much as I talk around the subject, I think I’ve kind of come to a conclusive statement when it comes to regression. For those of you that have been going for years and years, I have a question: has HHN always banked so heavily on IPs? The most that I know of their marketing in years past comes from icons, from the interactive websites to the videos to the memory of seeing Jack iconography on a Burger King cup as a kid.

I know that big IPs have been used, but the thing is that this year and last year have been so heavily themed around Stranger Things and Ghostbusters. That’s what I’m kind of sick of. The ST merch in particular is irritating, because as much as children love it, that’s kind of the problem. While HHN has had ten houses both years, it seems like the only audience they care about IS the ST audience, like the whole event is just ABOUT ST. Hoodies and shirts and cups galore featuring just ST. My phone case has the Mindflayer and a demogorgon smack dab in the center because I wanted to rep HHN and that’s all they offered.

I’m not anti-tween, but I’m really strongly against the idea that the event needs to shove ST down everyone’s throats just because they know it will sell merch to those tweens. It’s uncreative and kind of patronizing. I haven’t been too bitter this year, but this is a culmination of all my thoughts every time I saw another ST item in the shops.

/endrant

Pretty much since 22 they have relied on IPs. Before that, not so much. 17 a little bit with Freddy, Jason, and Leatherface. Otherwise, not really. I don't expect them change the way they have been doing it since 22 however. Pretty much IP focused now.

 

[Legacy]

Yknow, as much as I talk around the subject, I think I’ve kind of come to a conclusive statement when it comes to regression. For those of you that have been going for years and years, I have a question: has HHN always banked so heavily on IPs? The most that I know of their marketing in years past comes from icons, from the interactive websites to the videos to the memory of seeing Jack iconography on a Burger King cup as a kid.

I know that big IPs have been used, but the thing is that this year and last year have been so heavily themed around Stranger Things and Ghostbusters. That’s what I’m kind of sick of. The ST merch in particular is irritating, because as much as children love it, that’s kind of the problem. While HHN has had ten houses both years, it seems like the only audience they care about IS the ST audience, like the whole event is just ABOUT ST. Hoodies and shirts and cups galore featuring just ST. My phone case has the Mindflayer and a demogorgon smack dab in the center because I wanted to rep HHN and that’s all they offered.

I’m not anti-tween, but I’m really strongly against the idea that the event needs to shove ST down everyone’s throats just because they know it will sell merch to those tweens. It’s uncreative and kind of patronizing. I haven’t been too bitter this year, but this is a culmination of all my thoughts every time I saw another ST item in the shops.

/endrant

IPs have always heavily featured at the event (nearly half of all their houses are IPs, and it becomes the majority if you include the rip-offs (like Body Collectors and DIE-In). The trick is, 2007 and 2009 were the only years prior to 2013 where the IPs sat from and center of the marketing itself (the first couple of years with the Monsters don’t count).

Another big difference is that merch and food wasn’t a major driver until a couple of years ago. That’s a massively new change from every year before. It use to be an event shirt, a house shirt, a hat, and that’s it. HOODIES didn’t happen until 21. Sure, there’s a ton of Stranger Things merch. There’s also a ton more merch for everything else than there was before.

Universal is supplying a demand. We can get annoyed that it’s not what we’re demanding, but it’s turned into an unexpected cash cow for them they’re not going to give up.

 

[itsabee]

IPs have always heavily featured at the event (nearly half of all their houses are IPs, and it becomes the majority if you include the rip-offs (like Body Collectors and DIE-In). The trick is, 2007 and 2009 were the only years prior to 2013 where the IPs sat from and center of the marketing itself (the first couple of years with the Monsters don’t count).

Another big difference is that merch and food wasn’t a major driver until a couple of years ago. That’s a massively new change from every year before. It use to be an event shirt, a house shirt, a hat, and that’s it. HOODIES didn’t happen until 21. Sure, there’s a ton of Stranger Things merch. There’s also a ton more merch for everything else than there was before.

Universal is supplying a demand. We can get annoyed that it’s not what we’re demanding, but it’s turned into an unexpected cash cow for them they’re not going to give up.

Thanks for your detailed knowledge! This totally makes sense, and I hadn’t even considered the fact that the types of merchandise they offer have expanded recently.

That being said, if we were to talk more about advertising and event posters, what would that IP representation have looked like? I understand that the physical merch in the park is going to make money and that’s why they keep pushing it, but with all of the posters being designed around the IPs (especially the Upside Down globe image, the Stranger Things emo-Eleven crew billboard on 4, and this year’s compilation poster with GB, Klowns, and ST), is that new? Last year, at least, we got the original pumpkin-based (annual passholder-exclusive) design, but this year is that compilation graphic. Has HHN been doing this, or have they previously had more unique poster designs/designs that could only work in the context of the event?

 

[Legacy]

The posters are completely new.

Like, the variety of merch as essential quintupled in the last three years. Before 2015, you’d be lucky find anything with more that the event logo on it. They came up with a single image and that was basically that.

I did some digging, and realized 2002 is the one quirky exception to this history. That’s strictly because of Carnage though.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

I'm not totally against IT (pun intended) but it isn't a big seller for me. Especially after the mediocre second part.

Are you telling me that after the year were House of a 1000 corpses was a house there was still complaints about "tame" IPs!?

HotC isn’t a headliner though.

And It would definitely be a soundstage house. Like, Its own soundstage.

 

[WasabiRyo]

Thanks for your detailed knowledge! This totally makes sense, and I hadn’t even considered the fact that the types of merchandise they offer have expanded recently.

That being said, if we were to talk more about advertising and event posters, what would that IP representation have looked like? I understand that the physical merch in the park is going to make money and that’s why they keep pushing it, but with all of the posters being designed around the IPs (especially the Upside Down globe image, the Stranger Things emo-Eleven crew billboard on 4, and this year’s compilation poster with GB, Klowns, and ST), is that new? Last year, at least, we got the original pumpkin-based (annual passholder-exclusive) design, but this year is that compilation graphic. Has HHN been doing this, or have they previously had more unique poster designs/designs that could only work in the context of the event?

Actual merch VARIETY is slightly more of a new thing because people shop more than they used to, and they're trying to make an exclusive shopping experience, rather than online. Branded stuff is a big thing.

As for advertising, it depends on the ads. They used to do more targeted advertising. Some ads focused heavily on whatever IPs were being used in a particular year for the media or Publix and such. But within the parks or at malls or where the more hardcore HHNgoers frequented would be another matter. Usually if there was an Icon it would dominate the billboards (and draw complaints from local families). Now - they blanket everyplace with whatever is the most mainstream IP they have that year. Hence Walking Dead, The Purge, AHS, ST, and Ghostbusters. That's why ST was all over the billboards. Easy tickets to draw them in, then hopefully hook them into the other things HHN offers. I don't see this strategy changing for 30. It's easy marketing, it's easy to make merchandise people will buy without worrying about it being too bloody or scary. Oh you need a Christmas present? Here's a ST hoodie. Hey remember Ghostbusters? It's the Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man. For a personal example, for this past year, generaly speaking I LOVED the overall "Fear to the Max" design (being an 80s kid). And there was SO MUCH OF IT that it was hard to reign in spending. It's a money machine. Easy.

As much as I don't want to see ST (or Ghostbusters) become another Walking Dead situation (*shudder*) - I loved having the houses because I love love love the show. But now I'm done with it, and I'm content getting my ST fix at Target and from Netflix itself.

(boy I rambled here - that's what happens when you have a marketing degree...apologies).

 

[JunoSynth]

YES!! I never got to experience that house and the queque vids that were projected some years ago had me hooked. Sadly there were no videos inside the house; does anyone recall how was it?

Yep. It was one of my all time favorite houses. I can remember a few rooms.

You started off at the back of the meat shop in the employees locker room. I remember some hallway with samples of their BBQ/Food that looked nasty. Also there was a girl locked in a cage room. There was also a room with a huge pile of guts on the ground. It was nasty looking. (Reminded me of that wall/guts scene in TCM2-When Dennis Hopper smashes it)

The exit was genius. You go through the meat locker (with Chainsaw guys - I think they were dressed as Meaty Meetz) then through the entrance of the store. It was so cool cause it looked so normal and authentic. It looked like a real butcher shop and even had Sam Meetz greeting you with a big smile as you leave. Then as you exit the store that creepy Meaty Meetz guy comes running at you with a chainsaw down a dark alleyway.

Even though this was a comedy house it gave me an uneasy feeling because I was so immersed in it and loved it so much.


Looks like this site gives you a good description too
Leave it to Cleaver | Halloween Horror Nights Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

Yep. It was one of my all time favorite houses. I can remember a few rooms.

You started off at the back of the meat shop in the employees locker room. I remember some hallway with samples of their BBQ/Food that looked nasty. Also there was a girl locked in a cage room. There was also a room with a huge pile of guts on the ground. It was nasty looking. (Reminded me of that wall/guts scene in TCM2-When Dennis Hopper smashes it)

The exit was genius. You go through the meat locker (with Chainsaw guys) then through the entrance of the store. It was so cool cause it looked so normal and authentic. (Like a real butcher shop). Then as you exit the store that creepy Meety Meetz guy comes running at you with a chainsaw down a alleyway.

Even though this was a comedy house it gave me an uneasy feeling because I was so immersed in it and loved it so much.

I think a LitC Thanksgiving or Christmas house would be nice. IDK, trying to think of how to combine LitC with HRB.

 

[Lucky Planet]

YES!! I never got to experience that house and the queque vids that were projected some years ago had me hooked. Sadly there were no videos inside the house; does anyone recall how was it?

Yep. It was one of my all time favorite houses. I can remember a few rooms.

You started off at the back of the meat shop in the employees locker room. I remember some hallway with samples of their BBQ/Food that looked nasty. Also there was a girl locked in a cage room. There was also a room with a huge pile of guts on the ground. It was nasty looking. (Reminded me of that wall/guts scene in TCM2-When Dennis Hopper smashes it)

The exit was genius. You go through the meat locker (with Chainsaw guys - I think they were dressed as Meaty Meetz) then through the entrance of the store. It was so cool cause it looked so normal and authentic. It looked like a real butcher shop and even had Sam Meetz greeting you with a big smile as you leave. Then as you exit the store that creepy Meaty Meetz guy comes running at you with a chainsaw down a dark alleyway.

Even though this was a comedy house it gave me an uneasy feeling because I was so immersed in it and loved it so much.


Looks like this site gives you a good description too
Leave it to Cleaver | Halloween Horror Nights Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia

i vividly remember some of the actors never actually scaring but coming out with the meaty masks saying "Howdy! Welcome to Meaty Meats" and waving at you, not really scaring
i remember the props being gory, but the house only being scary in the last room...