Halloween Horror Nights 25 Discussion

[Nick]

People are disgusting. That's not Universal's fault. But it is strange that they feel the need to have sometimes an unusually high amount of security at random spots, like say house exits and entrances, but not near any of the free-roaming scare actors. What's the worst that can happen at a house exit? Some people lollygagging?

As a former scareactor, there are many coordinators along the street who are watching if anything gets out of hand. If someone does anything you deem inappropriate or harms you in anyway, we were to go to the nearest coordinator, tell them what the person looked like and we could get them kicked out of the event if we wanted (it was up to us).

I'm sure the actress did this and went through this process many times before she just said enough is enough.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I'm sure the actress did this and went through this process many times before she just said enough is enough.

I think Universal has to move from a reactive model the a proactive model of protecting cast.

 

[Cole]

So with every year there are one or two big problems that are usually fixed, last years was capacity (that they totally fixed) and now this year it's the protection of actors and the terrible guests? There seriously needs to be some kind of new model for the better of the event

 

[s8film40]

I think most of the issues were in the Die-In zone, I think this shows that it was due to the congestion in that area. With F&F construction I kind of wonder if that zone may be gone anyways so then there wouldn't really be any problem to correct.

 

[s8film40]

I'm guessing this is just the OS jumping on the bandwagon, but it looks like there was another issue in Monsters & Mayhem.
Universal Orlando scare actor tells police he was kicked in the face - Orlando Sentinel

It's good to know that some of these people are being prosecuted. I suspect this was in the Forsaken scene where the actor is down at foot level. My last run through on Sunday that position was empty, maybe this is why.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

This whole issue has kinda gained a lot of attention, I'm even seeing stuff on Facebook about it (granted, from old coworker friends but still, news abour scareactor harrassment is out there). My take on the whole thing...

1. As exciting as it is to watch a company grow, it's not all fun. The bigger you get, the more bad publicity you're gonna get. Mo money mo problems. HHN is getting too mainstream...

2. You're delusional if you think stopping the sale of alcohol will solve the problem. A shot at HHN costs $7.50. A bottle of comparable liquor costs twice that, a handle about 3 times. If I'm a smart drunk, I would just pre-game for a hell of a lot less money. No lines, no ridiculous overpricing. And banning liquor will do nothing to stop that. As it is, you CANT get drunk at HHN unless you do not wait in house lines or are majorly balling. The real drunks aren't getting their liquor from HHN (not the bulk of it anyway). The problem isn't selling alcohol at the park, it's that people are stupid.

I miss when HHN was not a major Orlando event--the more popular it gets the lamer it becomes.

 

[Viator]

So it seems a special Scarezone may be unearthed soon..and the truth, may be as it always always is; Legendary.

 

[WAJAS]

Thank god the one day I'm going is the last weekend.

 

[sjago13]

I'm guessing this is just the OS jumping on the bandwagon, but it looks like there was another issue in Monsters & Mayhem.
Universal Orlando scare actor tells police he was kicked in the face - Orlando Sentinel

It's good to know that some of these people are being prosecuted. I suspect this was in the Forsaken scene where the actor is down at foot level. My last run through on Sunday that position was empty, maybe this is why.

That makes sense. Did M&M 3 times sunday and he was missing the whole night. Also when I was exiting the final inside room a nightengale nurse stuck her hand out of the curtain to call over an ops person so im assuming something happened to her as well.

 

[sjago13]

What is the current policy about letting people that are visibly drunk into the event? Are they able to clear security? Because if they don't stop you from entering the park loaded they should. I can understand wanting to have a buzz to take the edge off but if you need to be shitfaced then you need to not be there. I also think they should not sell alcohol in the lines for houses and possibly not let you enter the line with a drink. That way you cant enter the house completely loaded unless its walk on.

Also in cheap seats video here at the 6.30 mark the clown is chansawinga guy that is bouncing around him like a boxer showing off for his friends and the clown makes the smart move to walk away. I am also in this video wearing a purple Maniacs United shirt DRINKING A BEER!?!?!?!?! behind the purge lady in the die in zone around the 4.45 mark. lol

 

[Nick]

I think Universal has to move from a reactive model the a proactive model of protecting cast.

Again, as a former scareactor, there is an INCREDIBLE amount of security, stage managers, coordinators, etc on the streets. But as all of us on this forum know, the event can get super busy. Not everything can be stopped before it happens. You can only hope to limit it at this point with how busy the streets are.

The only other alternative would be no streets, which none of us want just because of a very tiny percentage of drunk idiots. Again, there's only so much Uni can do to prevent things without having a handler. They can kick the guest out after it occurs, but preventing these things, even as a male performer, is pretty hard.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Again, as a former scareactor, there is an INCREDIBLE amount of security, stage managers, coordinators, etc on the streets. But as all of us on this forum know, the event can get super busy. Not everything can be stopped before it happens. You can only hope to limit it at this point with how busy the streets are.

The only other alternative would be no streets, which none of us want just because of a very tiny percentage of drunk idiots. Again, there's only so much Uni can do to prevent things without having a handler. They can kick the guest out after it occurs, but preventing these things, even as a male performer, is pretty hard.

Proactive, as in "lets not put a character dressed like Carrie show stands around in the middle of a busy street" decisions.

 

[Nick]

Proactive, as in "lets not put a character dressed like Carrie show stands around in the middle of a busy street" decisions.

I agree with that. That entire scarezone was pointless... it turned into a giant photo-op, which negates the point of it being a SCAREzone.

 

[s8film40]

I agree with that. That entire scarezone was pointless... it turned into a giant photo-op, which negates the point of it being a SCAREzone.

All the scare zones are photo ops now. I think the era of the true scare zone has passed. Everyone has to get a good selfie to post on social media.

 

[Nick]

All the scare zones are photo ops now. I think the era of the true scare zone has passed. Everyone has to get a good selfie to post on social media.

To a point. Some of the non-official zones (the "roaming" hoards) were great. However none of the zones got as bad as the Die-In zone has as far as selfies and such.

 

[s8film40]

To a point. Some of the non-official zones (the "roaming" hoards) were great. However none of the zones got as bad as the Die-In zone has as far as selfies and such.

Yeah I agree the roaming hordes may be the only way to go for a true scare zone. Of course they have to be very generic characters, I've seen people getting selfies with the clowns. Die-In is definitely the extreme but everyone's taking selfies everywhere even in the Central Park zone where with all the fog and dark lighting they probably aren't even turning out anyway.

I predict within 5 years all the scare zones will have turned into character meet and greets. You'll get in line wait 30 minutes to take your photo and then move on to the next character.

 

[Lucky Planet]

The only other alternative would be no streets, which none of us want just because of a very tiny percentage of drunk idiots. Again, there's only so much Uni can do to prevent things without having a handler. They can kick the guest out after it occurs, but preventing these things, even as a male performer, is pretty hard.

is it really a tiny percentage of drunks? this is happening every night, multiple times a night on different zones and houses. When I wait for my ride at the guest drop off, Every single night I see people being escorted out by security with pink papers. that happens every night. I wait for like 30 minutes and I see that cop's van roll out at least 3 times in that small amount of time.

If this is happening so much, is it really a tiny group of drunks? Im just wondering.

 

[Lucky Planet]

on tv:

Halloween Horror Nights actors quit after being assaulted | News - Home

 

[Nick]

If this is happening so much, is it really a tiny group of drunks? Im just wondering.

I'll far and away admit that a high percentage of guests that go to HHN and HOS (both of which i've worked at as an actor) drink heavily, but very few actually get to the point where they do this stuff. You have to think that HHN gets packed, so even a tiny percentage is a large amount of guests, which means that a small portion of a large audience are the ones harassing the performers.

You also have to remember the drunk guests are the loudest, so they stick out the most. When Uni let's the park fill up to capacity every damn night and they have a "scare zone" like Die-In, i'm not sure what they can expect. I'm not letting the offenders off the hook, but Uni needs to be the ones taking proactive steps as @testtrack321 said earlier.

And unfortunately assault is nothing new at these events. I've seen scareactors get their teeth punched out and get physically beaten up day after day. Social media just allows people to speak out for a change.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I'll far and away admit that a high percentage of guests that go to HHN and HOS (both of which i've worked at as an actor) drink heavily, but very few actually get to the point where they do this stuff. You have to think that HHN gets packed, so even a tiny percentage is a large amount of guests, which means that a small portion of a large audience are the ones harassing the performers.

You also have to remember the drunk guests are the loudest, so they stick out the most. When Uni let's the park fill up to capacity every damn night and they have a "scare zone" like Die-In, i'm not sure what they can expect. I'm not letting the offenders off the hook, but Uni needs to be the ones taking proactive steps as @testtrack321 said earlier.

And unfortunately assault is nothing new at these events. I've seen scareactors get their teeth punched out and get physically beaten up day after day. Social media just allows people to speak out for a change.

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I understand. there was something else someone mentioned elsewhere, how come actors don't get a radio or something? specially if they are in a house. do actors get radios? is it because it is too hard to have with the costume on? would it be better if they did?