Halloween Horror Nights 24 Discussion

[graspthesun]

Two things that I'll throw at this fire:

1. I think HHN, like Universal Orlando as a whole, is moving to be more and more IP based. They're leveraging their theme of a movie park to bring the movies to life. Originality is slowly going to be choked out of it until it's like everything else in the park. NBCUniversal loves synergy. Just listen to Jack Donaghy.

2. Ticket prices are going to continue to climb higher and higher for two reasons: you have heavy demand and very few nights to pack in that demand. If you set ticket prices too low, you end up with 4 hours lines for the worst house in the park. They're still trying to figure out where the sweet spot is in the prices to keep the lines under 2 and a half hours, but still pack the park as full as they can.

 

[Cole]

Yeah 21 had a incredible house and scare zone collection but didn't lack a cohesive story other than "luck brought them here". You are definitely right durden that is something that needs to be worked on in the future but with IPs you can't really do that anymore. I hope we atleast get something like carnival of carnage this year where the icon has the unique backstory and ties the houses into a loose theme instead of "roots". I also want them to go more in depth with legendary truth storywise. Has great potential

 

[TylerDurden]

Yeah 21 had a incredible house and scare zone collection but didn't lack a cohesive story other than "luck brought them here". You are definitely right durden that is something that needs to be worked on in the future but with IPs you can't really do that anymore. I hope we atleast get something like carnival of carnage this year where the icon has the unique backstory and ties the houses into a loose theme instead of "roots". I also want them to go more in depth with legendary truth storywise. Has great potential

You can do that with IPs, for sure. 2007 and 2009 were IP-heavy, and they were great years. HHN is no stranger to IPs, so they shouldnt be an excuse for a dip in quality in the event.

 

[Lucky Planet]

So now we have Walking Dead...great for marketing and bringing in money. That has nothing to do with any of the variables I listed above that made 2008 so great. The problem, in my eyes, isnt the event growing more accessible to the general public through use of popular IP's...its the death of creativity that has come with it. Last year, a lot of the IPs they absolutely had to use for marketing purposes had to do with the woods...2013 could have been themed to a scary forest in the way 2007 was themed to a messed-up carnival. Theres absolutely no reason it couldnt have...an overarching theme like that would have taken nothing away from the marketing and commercialization of the event. And yet, nothing like that happened, whereas pre-2011 it would have been a neccessity.

- - - Updated - - -



Original houses arent the only thing that make for a great HHN. 2011 had a fantastic lineup of houses, the only year I know of that didnt have 1 mediocre house and the only one where all of them were my favorites for different reasons...yet I still left the event that year thinking something was missing. I went several times that year but it was missing the spark from the years past. It wasnt Halloween Horror Nights, it was a collection of awesome haunted houses in Universal Studios after dark.

this is an Excellent post. Perfectly put, I dont understand what is the problem with universal wanting money and using IPs but letting A&D do a really creative and amazing story to tie everything up. Like 2007 or 2009,

I Wouldn't mind the walking dead being used 3 times IF the event had the kind of quality that 2009 had.

If these past 3 years had an Icon and a story for everything being together I would have no problem with Universal using walking dead until 2020. I wouldn't mind if Walking Dead because a permanent house if they had scarezones like the ones in 2008 with actual props for example. If we had better music playing in the park, A better website, a cool Icon.

(You know, I hated Fear and I didn't like Lady Luck either but they were much better than having nothing)

 

[Cole]

You can do that with IPs, for sure. 2007 and 2009 were IP-heavy, and they were great years. HHN is no stranger to IPs, so they shouldnt be an excuse for a dip in quality in the event.

It's really strange, I think there is another reason out there that we don't know that explains why we have had the dip and I know it's not just marketing, something's up

 

[Shucker]

If these past 3 years had an Icon and a story for everything being together I would have no problem with Universal using walking dead until 2020. I wouldn't mind if Walking Dead because a permanent house if they had scarezones like the ones in 2008 with actual props for example. If we had better music playing in the park, A better website, a cool Icon.

I think the last two years did have an icon, their icon was The Walking Dead. I looked back at the material from last year, and they could have had more of a theme with woods/forest aspect. But I think the Walking Dead has such a draw for them its hard not to focus on it in all their material. Think about it from their perspective, we can spend man hours on an over arching theme that only a niche group of attendees will even notice, or we can focus on Walking Dead. It would be nice if they did both and maybe this is the year.

I did not attend the event in 2008, but I will say that if it was that much better than last year, then I cant even imagine how great it must have been. I thought 5 of the 8 houses last year were great (AWiL, CitW, ED, LL and WD, in that order for me). I think everyone for the most part agrees the scare zones were lame, but I do applaud them for trying something new. I was excited going into it, but think they fell short of expectations. And because of this they are adjusting this years lineup, which they should. So it is hard for me in seeing what an incredible event this is to agree that the quality is lacking so bad because I don't have the perception of the better years. I only see it as what it is now, and think its awesome.

 

[TylerDurden]

I did not attend the event in 2008

Well that's probably why youre not really understanding what this whole issue is really about. The extra depth that used to prevail at HHN wasnt just something a few hardcore fans noticed. You became a fan of Halloween Horror Nights during its less-inspired years...thats fine, but then again you dont have the same high standard to hold the event to that some of the rest of us do.

 

[kingcooger]

BTW: 5/3 at this point in time.

5 IPs to 3 Originals?

 

[Cole]

Well that's probably why youre not really understanding what this whole issue is really about. The extra depth that used to prevail at HHN wasnt just something a few hardcore fans noticed. You became a fan of Halloween Horror Nights during its less-inspired years...thats fine, but then again you dont have the same high standard to hold the event to that some of the rest of us do.

Exactly, Shucker I want you to imagine 2012 times 10 with a story that fit into every single experience in the park. You should definitely look into the horror nights wiki or doctor Jimmy's horror nights history videos for some more info on the past events. Very interesting stuff and it'll show you what we want and expect from the event

- - - Updated - - -

5 IPs to 3 Originals?

Hopefully it's the other way around or half and half

 

[Teebin]

5 IPs to 3 Originals?

As of 4 weeks ago, yes.

 

[Cole]

As of 4 weeks ago, yes.

Ughhh that's lame, following the same pattern as 23 I see. Whatever as long as they are good

 

[kingcooger]

As of 4 weeks ago, yes.

Thanks for the clarification. Last I heard was 4/4 and that was about two weeks ago (maybe less).

 

[Teebin]

Thanks for the clarification. Last I heard was 4/4 and that was about two weeks ago (maybe less).

It's 5/3.

 

[kingcooger]

It's 5/3.

Awesome, thanks.

 

[SirOwenDisney]

Yes, there is something most are calling an original that may just end up being an IP after all. Then again nothing is for sure until it's revealed officially.

 

[Teebin]

Yes, there is something most are calling an original that may just end up being an IP after all. Then again nothing is for sure until it's revealed officially.

Well spoken, for yourself.

 

[DanB89]

Yes, there is something most are calling an original that may just end up being an IP after all. Then again nothing is for sure until it's revealed officially.

The clown house? There have been rumors out there that it could turn out to be Killer Klownz from Outer Space. I would be more than happy if that turns out to be true.

 

[Cole]

The clown house? There have been rumors out there that it could turn out to be Killer Klownz from Outer Space. I would be more than happy if that turns out to be true.

Or Eli Roth's clown coming out later October. Hope that's the movie tie in rather than Dracula untold

 

[kingcooger]

Okay, so assuming it is KKFOS, that means we probably have the following 8 houses:

KKFOS
TWD
Halloween
AVP
Dracula Untold
Croatoa or Thanksgiving (I am hearing both)
Evil dolls
Boogeyman

Also, I know there was talk of From Dusk Til Dawn at some point but last I knew that was replaced with the Croatoa or Thanksgiving styled house. Maybe it changed back?
Anyone have anything else to add to the speculation?

 

[Clive]

Hey, you know what makes designing a quality haunted house really difficult? When the themes keep changing long after the design phase usually ends!

Also, it says I can't keep giving TylerDurden rep, but he deserves all of it for being spot-on. I can easily get over Walking Dead if we still had the icons, overarching theme, backstory, layered website, unique commercial, better house construction, real scare zones, actually-trained actors, top-of-the-line costumes & makeup, etc...