Halloween Horror Nights 24: Reviews & Photos

[Miketheboss]

I'm sorry but with all the hard work and dedication that they have for this. The least we could do is appreciate what they have. It may not be the best year to you but atleast find positives.

What is wrong with people. This is AMERICA not Cuba. You have the right to say you don't like something as a consumer. People pay good money to go to the parks. This has been said by others on here, "appreciate". Appreciate my a$$. Universal needs to appreciate their customers and give the BEST experience possible at all times. When you go to a restaurant and you get okay service for a hefty bill, you don't appreciate.

 

[Brian G.]

Here's some photos that I finally got around the editing and such.

 

[romo]

awesome photos brian!!!

 

[Brian G.]

Here's some more photos:

 

[Lucky Planet]

amazing pics

 

[PourJudgment]

Having been to 12 of the nights so far this year doesn't make me an expert on what is the best at this years event. It makes me an expert on what I personally like. That said, here are my top house picks....that no one asked to hear.

#1 Halloween (Blew me away! I didn't think anything would come close to last years AWIL but this is so well done it's shocking. The closet attack scenes are the most intense I have ever experienced. So many great 'beats' its almost impossible to have a bad walk-through. An instant all time classic!)
#2 Dollhouse (I was confident this would be one of my bottom 2 houses going into the event. Boy am I surprised it's in my top 2! Nice mix of scare, disturbing and funny. Kudos to the team)
#3 AvP (I'm a fan of the properties and it's a solid house. Would have never thought before the event that'd I'd of picked the Doll House over it, but there it is. Wish they would have attempted the Queen)
#4 From Dusk Till Dawn (This one has jumped the most after multiple walkthroughs. Not sure if it's just gotten better, or I've had better luck on my visits.)
#5 The Walking Dead (Full disclosure, I've never seen one episode of this show ever. I'm also sick of it showing up every year, but I've had some great walkthroughs so I can't hate it. Since I don't get any show references, it's just a zombie house to me...but it works.
#6 Giggles & Gore (This one has potential for passing the walking dead after my last visit, but It'll take more than one good walkthrough for me to switch it. And yes, my last visit was in the daylight. It works better for me.)
#7 Roanoke (Haven't had one good visit here yet. The thing that troubles me is I have a few friends that like it a lot so I feel a good walkthrough is possible...but, IMHO, it shouldn't take over 12 visits to get it)
#8 Dracula (What is it about Vampire houses that always end up on the bottom of my list? This house just doesn't work for me on any level. I've given it far to many chances. I'm pretty much done with this house for the year. Unless the line is ridiculously way shorter than the rest or I am horribly drunk and confused.)

I'll also say that the Purge scarezone is my favorite by far and I'm a fan of this years Bill & Teds.

Looking forward to visit #13 tomorrow!

 

[RogueAntilles]

Agreed, G&G that rare house that actually works better in daylight.

How? The last room is completely ruined by the daylight?

Everyone hates Dracula, I think it's fair to say it's just not good.

Not everyone. Compared to a lot of other years bottom houses Dracula stands far above them. The house looks great and there are some solid effects.

 

[Hatetofly]

How? The last room is completely ruined by the daylight?



Not everyone. Compared to a lot of other years bottom houses Dracula stands far above them. The house looks great and there are some solid effects.

I personally think Dracula has shown drastic improvement and feel that FDTD is this years weakest link. And then I will agree that no matter which one anyone feels is the weakest, this years weakest house is much much stronger than any previous years weakest houses.

 

[Lucky Planet]

How? The last room is completely ruined by the daylight?

the last room might get ruined and the house might not be as scary during the day, but there are so many details that get lost at night. you just have to do the house twice, once to see all the colors and the little details, and then if you can in the dark to experience the scares, but yeah during the day it feels very different. at night it is pretty dark (it is not as well lit)

 

[MrRoamer]

I personally think Dracula has shown drastic improvement and feel that FDTD is this years weakest link. And then I will agree that no matter which one anyone feels is the weakest, this years weakest house is much much stronger than any previous years weakest houses.

Definitely agree, Dracula has been constantly getting better from the beginning. FDTD started off weak and is still pretty weak, there are some good scenes but I don't think it is anywhere on the same level as the rest of the houses.

 

[Milla4Prez66]

I think if you polled everyone whose been to all 8 houses this year, more than 50% of them would probably tell you FDTD was the weak link of the year. My brother thought it was the worst HHN he's ever seen, I wouldn't go that far but I thought it was bad. Dracula was pretty weak compared to the other houses, but it was still head and shoulders better than FDTD imo.

 

[Lucky Planet]

the actors in dracula might be getting more intense and doing a hard job, which is awesome and i appreciate the big effort they must be doing, but the house is just still really weak as far as the theme, the costumes and the story.
the movie is out and it is getting a lot of bad reviews, most people i know have not watched it. so i dont even think the house helped that much.

I thought the vampires in dusk were a little better. the sets might be bad but at least the vampires are more scary

 

[Cole]

I don't get the hate for FDTD. The temple rooms were great because the hiding spots were so unnoticeable. I got scared a few times and the beginning and ending scenes were probably the best rooms of the event. Whatever floats your boat but I liked it

 

[s8film40]

I agree! I think FDTD is definitely in the top 3 for me this year. I though the weak house this year is Roanoke, the story just doesn't flow real well for me and the sets just aren't as nice as everything else this year. The actors in Roanoke are great though!

 

[sjago13]

My problem with FDTD isn't it's set quality. I just feel like they set it up badly. The curtains are too obvious for scares and then the rest of the house is giant room after giant room. While it all looks cool it gives the actors very little to work with when it comes to scares. Like I said before. Them jumping out 10 feet away isn't scary. Even if they run at me because I know it's fake. That's why scares need to be unexpected and they get to you fast.

 

[Cole]

My problem with FDTD isn't it's set quality. I just feel like they set it up badly. The curtains are too obvious for scares and then the rest of the house is giant room after giant room. While it all looks cool it gives the actors very little to work with when it comes to scares. Like I said before. Them jumping out 10 feet away isn't scary. Even if they run at me because I know it's fake. That's why scares need to be unexpected and they get to you fast.

Yeah the opening hallways were predictable but during some scenes I had no idea where they were coming from. I went opening weekend and it probably scared me WAY more than AVP attempted to (and I'm a total whimp). Also S8film I gotta disagree with you on the Roanoke comment, easily #1 for me this year, maybe I just had a glorious run through but good god I loved it

 

[sjago13]

Yeah the opening hallways were predictable but during some scenes I had no idea where they were coming from. I went opening weekend and it probably scared me WAY more than AVP attempted to (and I'm a total whimp). Also S8film I gotta disagree with you on the Roanoke comment, easily #1 for me this year, maybe I just had a glorious run through but good god I loved it

I can understand. It sucks only being able to go once. Every year something changes over the event by going multiple times. In 2012 house of horrors got better over the event for me. In 2013 I hated evil dead the first time but it got better and honestly even havoc got better the last time through. And this year Dracula is the surprise for me. First night I had it pegged as the worst one but now it's above FDTD and ronoake.

 

[Cole]

Yeah I would love to go through AVP now and see the apparently brilliant changes they made. I wanted to love that house too much lol

 

[SeventyOne]

I don't get the hate for FDTD. The temple rooms were great because the hiding spots were so unnoticeable. I got scared a few times and the beginning and ending scenes were probably the best rooms of the event. Whatever floats your boat but I liked it

Add me to that chorus. FDTD is actually coming on strong for my #2 house of the year, upsetting Dollhouse (creepy sets, but lack of a thematic through-line and a just-average cast hurt it over multiple runs). [Not that anything but Halloween has a chance of cracking my top 25 of all time.]

This does seem like a very polarizing year outside of Halloween and Dollhouse. Roanoke, TWD, FDTD and G&G all get strongly mixed reviews from love to hate.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

I don't get the hate for FDTD. The temple rooms were great because the hiding spots were so unnoticeable. I got scared a few times and the beginning and ending scenes were probably the best rooms of the event. Whatever floats your boat but I liked it

I'll throw my opinion in too...I think FDTD is being unfairly underrated. My first run-through wasn't great but subsequent ones were a lot better. I actually got one of my best scares for this year in there (one of those ones you get from each side). I think the sets are very, very impressive and I actually like the curtain scares because the shadow projections are preatty neat. There are also a couple cool vignettes in here (as well as the finale scene). Its definitely my most-improved, I would probably rank it above Roanoke and definitely Dracula...its on par with Walking Dead for me.