The problem was we had 4 of the same type of house. ST2, Ghostbusters, Killer Klownz, and US were all houses trying harder to retell their stories than scare people. You can maybe have 2 houses like that, but 4 was overkill
Ghostbusters was going to get all the hype no matter what. It's ridiculously popular. Everyone know of it. Even if it was secondary on marketing it still would have drawn and suffered the same scrutiny. Design is design.
Yeah thats true. And they were all the front houses lol.
A bit of reading the tea leaves (or second-hand reports of GSATs) here, but I think the noticeable influx of really young kids drove a lot of the hate. Guests see the middle school mall crowd, assume it's because the event "isn't scary anymore," then the front houses basically play right into that narrative. I also think @JungleSkip is onto something with more narrative focus v. scaring, but that again goes into the idea that these felt more Disney dark ride than haunted house.
Exactly. It's not going to matter that Vikings had a blood eagle and a guy getting his ribs ripped out. Or that Nightingales...where do I start? Or that Depths of Fear had a horrifically mutilated dog. Or that Hillbilly Deluxe had strippers. Or that HotC had Dwight sown with a fish. The front, big IP houses are going to be what colors most peoples' opinion of the event.
What I find interesting about this is that 2/3 of the headliners could have been really scary houses. If done right I think Stranger Things could’ve been a terrifying house but they avoided some of the really scary scenes from both seasons(Possession + Hopper’s Cabin scenes from 2’s ending episodes, Basement + Sauna + Fair in season 3). Us was just a problem of Orlando not knowing how to approach the psychological aspect, as they went for an atmospheric house while Hollywood’s was more played straight.
I get why they did it, but man they should've given 2 the entire house and saved 3 for next year.
These scenes are really what I was expecting to see in the ST house more. I expected the opening scene. I expected the portal scene, I expected the lab. The Mindflayer breaking into the cabin is a very underrated scene. But I could've done with less arcade, less endless basically empty Upside-down halls with dudes with guns. Thebbus was cool but pointless and half the time I went thorough , Dustin's (very quick looped) dialogue would play with no SA. And No Hawkins fair. No Russian lab. Billy looked like a Warriors reject... I mean, I get it. Netflix was very heavy-handed. But yeah, it really had more potential than was explored.
From what I've heard, (and I know Legacy is just waiting to pounce on this if I'm wrong
), the tunnel is actually encircling a whole portion of the house dubbed "The Island". It's excessively long but I believe that's because it's the only thing that A&D could've fit in that space with the scenes they wanted done.
I mean, not using the IP because it's not going to make a satisfying maze is always an option. But a fair point nonetheless.
This is why i want WDW to try their hand at Halloween mazes, let that contingent have those mazes and leave HHN to be more intense.
Disney did try their hand a "maze" (sort of) at DCA this year, but it was mostly just a walking path with light Halloween theming and ambiance. That's about as far as i'm expecting them to ever go as far as Halloween mazes go. It's just not really their "thing" (Granted, HKDL does some great stuff when it comes to mazes).
Kinda? A lot houses have an "island," where the performers are on the inside of the house path (meaning you can't get out of the house without crossing a guest area). I think they wasted a lot of space on the tunnels, personally. Spatially, they took up about as much space as the Russian Tunnels and Starcourt.From what I've heard, (and I know Legacy is just waiting to pounce on this if I'm wrong
Well actually, they might've been able to do different (read: better) scenes than they did and made the loop run a little shorter as a result but whatcha gonna do?
I can see where Otis brought the Christmas candy.
