- Dec 21, 2016
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Halloween Horror Nights 30 (UO): Reviews, Photos, & Videos
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Yeah, that's kinda where i'm at. Wicked Growth isn't in my Top 5, so it could fall out of my Top 10 easily with just a few more top tier houses at the event in future years.
- Apr 4, 2020
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Time for my review. From a terrified first-timer at HHN 25, to a megafan who loves the lore, characters, and knows every single house in HHN Orlando history.
Brief thoughts before the rankings, man oh man did it feel so great to have HHN again. Besides the vinyl (I'll get into that a bit later), the event seriously felt magical. From the anniversary feeling present throughout the whole park, to Jack always running around and interacting with guests, to seeing both fans and scareactors just super excited to have their favorite Halloween event back. Absolutely loved it.
Now, one last thing before I get into rankings, yes, the vinyl did detract quite a bit from the houses this year, no matter how much people don't wanna admit it. Was it a lot better than the plexi last year? Very much, yes. Did it ruin the event? No. Would the event have jumped from being great to seriously being quite possibly the perfect HHN without it? In my opinion, also yes. Now let's quickly move onto the rankings before this starts an argument.
Houses
All the houses this year ranged from good to great to amazing. First year where I can say that I did not dislike a single one.
#1 - The Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin - Call me cliche, but yeah this house is amazing. From the outdoor and indoor facade, to the pure Halloween feels, to the story, to the scares, and being the house that felt the most normal with almost zero vinyl. It also helps that on the final two nights, many of the scareactors began to recognize me and have little interactions, which is one of my favorite HHN endgame things. Loved this house and will miss it dearly. - 10/10
#2 - Puppet Theatre: Captive Audience - Gahhhhhh let me just say that as a theatre kid, I absolutely adored this house and this is essentially tied with Wicked Growth for #1. Beautiful sets, really good scares (particularly false mirror, behind the piano and behind the curtain), and just a really fun feel all around. Also, Shakespeare guy. To be or not to be... Hope to see him return in the next anniversary house. - 10/10
#3 - Icons: Captured - Yet another amazing house. Also the most fun house IMO, really fun to just see all the Icons face-to-face and see a different winner each time. Only real disappointment would be that Fear doesn't have his own section, can't be a winner and only appears once in the whole house, which felt weird considering it is his Lantern. Besides that though, great house. Also very pleasantly surprised there was a Bloody Mary section. Really wasn't expecting it. - 10/10
#4 - Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth - H o l y! Yet *another* amazing house! I absolutely loved the noir feel here and the Slaughter Sinema vibes. Plus finally getting to meet Boris face-to-face for the first time was a great moment, and seeing him be a badass. I wish for there to be more houses with a protagonist you get to see experience the story with you, it adds a nice feeling to the overall house. This was tied with Wicked Growth as my #1 at the beginning, but sadly it felt like the scares got toned down after the first two weeks which knocked it back for me. Still loved it though, and hope to see more Boris in the future. - 9.5/10
#5 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Wow, is what immediately comes to my mind. I like most people experienced the house in 2016 and loved it, then saw the announcement that it was returning and thought it was a bit of a black sheep in what was otherwise a great lineup. Then, also like most people, I went through the house and was incredibly surprised to find that not only was it really good, it was maybe even better than the 2016 house. Great scares, very little vinyl, and just like that 2016 house, the feeling that you were seriously in danger and needed to get out immediately. Very good job. - 9/10
#6 - The Haunting of Hill House - My very first house of the year, and a pretty good house. Solid scares and really good sets. Only problem being, a lot of those solid scares relied heavily on having the right timing. Otherwise, there was a good chance you were gonna miss almost all of them. But when you did get the scares, man did they hit hard. Great job recreating the show as well. Good house. - 8/10
#7 - Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives - Right off the bat I need to clarify that I experienced the Lite version in 2020 and that it was hands-down my favorite of the two. Gorgeous sets and a really creative story that made it feel like an original house (which it essentially was!). At the beginning, this was near my bottom since it actually felt kinda worse to me from the Lite version. Then final weekend came and WOAH did they pick up the intensity. I was getting hissed and clawed at by vampire brides from everywhere and all the time it felt like. And of course that finale is *mwah*. Really good job saving this from a lower ranking! - 8/10
#8 - Welcome to SCarey: Horror in the Heartland - Like many have said, for what was supposed to be our anniversary house, this felt very underwhelming. The first half of the house is hands-down the best part, as all the scares are good and come at a quick pace. Then you reach Bloodengutz and it kinda falls apart. The smooth transitions from the first half (sewers into a basement/cavern into a mansion then outside) are gone and now we have radio station to meat shop to prison. Also that ending was probably the worst part, feels very abrupt, and please just pick what it's gonna be, Hellgate or Havoc (and I know it's technically not Carey but I would've preferred Psychoscareapy). Still though, pretty decent house. - 7.5/10
#9 - Beetlejuice - Getting it out of the way, the best part of the house is objectively the beginning with the live Beetlejuice. It was always a lot of fun to interact with him. The rest of the house is okay. The best part of it is that it keeps the fun vibe throughout. Sadly though, this house is the biggest offender when it comes to vinyl, absolutely everywhere and ruins just about every scare. And it doesn't help that it ends on a pretty sour note with a very abrupt ending with a Beetlejuice that 99% of guests didn't even see because for whatever reason he's completely off to the side and requires you to turn around *as you're leaving* to even notice. - 7/10
#10 - Revenge of the Tooth Fairy - Just like Brides, I experienced this during the Lite version, and back then I still wasn't its biggest fan. The good: Amazing facade, good and creepy story that does a fantastic job of twisting an innocent children's story, and I can finally hear the narrator, yeah! The bad: The same Tooth Fairy popping out at you every couple seconds. At least they got kinda cute wings added near the end? If they continue the Bedtime Stories idea, hopefully they do a better job executing it. - 6.5/10
Scare Zones
Two great zones, one good zone, one okay zone, and one bad zone.
#1 - Seek and Destroy - I LOVED this zone. From the Stormtrooper feel of the costumes, to the story, to the amazing interactions you can have with the Controller, especially if you're me and he began recognizing you and would have you do very fun and crazy things to continue to heighten your loyalty to him. Also, as one of the guests that was there for the big final speech for the final set, that was one of my favorite HHN moments and a real tear-jerker. Will really miss this zone. Long live the Machine. - 10/10
#2 - Lights, Camera, Hacktion: Eddie's Revenge - Another zone I loved. Really fun vibes in here, especially with the chainsaw clowns and of course the Treaks and Foons. Plus, YES! FINALLY! EDDIE GETS SOME LOVE! Really hope the rumors are true that he'll finally get his due proper and be the Icon for 31. - 9.5/10
#3 - Gorewood Forest - Biggest disappointment with this is not the zone itself, but rather how much I was really hoping for them to fully stick with the 15-year cycle and have this year act as a Tales of Terror sequel with the Terra Queen as the Icon. But alas, we didn't get that. Perhaps in another universe. Oh yeah, the zone. It was pretty cool. Loved the costumes. - 8/10
#4 - 30 Years, 30 Fears - Probably one of the better Plaza of the Stars zones in recent years. Did a great job as a welcome-back to HHN for fans and also as a way to set the tone for newcomers. - 7/10
#5 - Crypt TV - Just a photo op with no scares. Doesn't help I already wasn't too much of a Crypt TV fan. At least the tradition of couples kissing in front of the Look-See was cool. - 4/10
Shows
Halloween Nightmare Fuel - Great show. Can't say much else. Interested to see what they do with these guys and gals in the years to come. - 9/10
Marathon of Mayhem: Carnage Factory - Pretty cool. Wish there was more Icons in it though, and Jack you don't need to tell me 4 times that this is a fear-extracting factory. - 8/10
...Now bring on a Bill & Ted successor with Beetlejuice next year you cowards.
Overall Thoughts
Great year, great 30th anniversary. While I love Jack and the other Icons, hoping the rumors are true and that this will be the last time we see them for quite a good while. Bring on a new era of Icons this decade! Well, that's about it. Overall event rating: 9.5/10
Brief thoughts before the rankings, man oh man did it feel so great to have HHN again. Besides the vinyl (I'll get into that a bit later), the event seriously felt magical. From the anniversary feeling present throughout the whole park, to Jack always running around and interacting with guests, to seeing both fans and scareactors just super excited to have their favorite Halloween event back. Absolutely loved it.
Now, one last thing before I get into rankings, yes, the vinyl did detract quite a bit from the houses this year, no matter how much people don't wanna admit it. Was it a lot better than the plexi last year? Very much, yes. Did it ruin the event? No. Would the event have jumped from being great to seriously being quite possibly the perfect HHN without it? In my opinion, also yes. Now let's quickly move onto the rankings before this starts an argument.
Houses
All the houses this year ranged from good to great to amazing. First year where I can say that I did not dislike a single one.
#1 - The Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin - Call me cliche, but yeah this house is amazing. From the outdoor and indoor facade, to the pure Halloween feels, to the story, to the scares, and being the house that felt the most normal with almost zero vinyl. It also helps that on the final two nights, many of the scareactors began to recognize me and have little interactions, which is one of my favorite HHN endgame things. Loved this house and will miss it dearly. - 10/10
#2 - Puppet Theatre: Captive Audience - Gahhhhhh let me just say that as a theatre kid, I absolutely adored this house and this is essentially tied with Wicked Growth for #1. Beautiful sets, really good scares (particularly false mirror, behind the piano and behind the curtain), and just a really fun feel all around. Also, Shakespeare guy. To be or not to be... Hope to see him return in the next anniversary house. - 10/10
#3 - Icons: Captured - Yet another amazing house. Also the most fun house IMO, really fun to just see all the Icons face-to-face and see a different winner each time. Only real disappointment would be that Fear doesn't have his own section, can't be a winner and only appears once in the whole house, which felt weird considering it is his Lantern. Besides that though, great house. Also very pleasantly surprised there was a Bloody Mary section. Really wasn't expecting it. - 10/10
#4 - Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth - H o l y! Yet *another* amazing house! I absolutely loved the noir feel here and the Slaughter Sinema vibes. Plus finally getting to meet Boris face-to-face for the first time was a great moment, and seeing him be a badass. I wish for there to be more houses with a protagonist you get to see experience the story with you, it adds a nice feeling to the overall house. This was tied with Wicked Growth as my #1 at the beginning, but sadly it felt like the scares got toned down after the first two weeks which knocked it back for me. Still loved it though, and hope to see more Boris in the future. - 9.5/10
#5 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Wow, is what immediately comes to my mind. I like most people experienced the house in 2016 and loved it, then saw the announcement that it was returning and thought it was a bit of a black sheep in what was otherwise a great lineup. Then, also like most people, I went through the house and was incredibly surprised to find that not only was it really good, it was maybe even better than the 2016 house. Great scares, very little vinyl, and just like that 2016 house, the feeling that you were seriously in danger and needed to get out immediately. Very good job. - 9/10
#6 - The Haunting of Hill House - My very first house of the year, and a pretty good house. Solid scares and really good sets. Only problem being, a lot of those solid scares relied heavily on having the right timing. Otherwise, there was a good chance you were gonna miss almost all of them. But when you did get the scares, man did they hit hard. Great job recreating the show as well. Good house. - 8/10
#7 - Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives - Right off the bat I need to clarify that I experienced the Lite version in 2020 and that it was hands-down my favorite of the two. Gorgeous sets and a really creative story that made it feel like an original house (which it essentially was!). At the beginning, this was near my bottom since it actually felt kinda worse to me from the Lite version. Then final weekend came and WOAH did they pick up the intensity. I was getting hissed and clawed at by vampire brides from everywhere and all the time it felt like. And of course that finale is *mwah*. Really good job saving this from a lower ranking! - 8/10
#8 - Welcome to SCarey: Horror in the Heartland - Like many have said, for what was supposed to be our anniversary house, this felt very underwhelming. The first half of the house is hands-down the best part, as all the scares are good and come at a quick pace. Then you reach Bloodengutz and it kinda falls apart. The smooth transitions from the first half (sewers into a basement/cavern into a mansion then outside) are gone and now we have radio station to meat shop to prison. Also that ending was probably the worst part, feels very abrupt, and please just pick what it's gonna be, Hellgate or Havoc (and I know it's technically not Carey but I would've preferred Psychoscareapy). Still though, pretty decent house. - 7.5/10
#9 - Beetlejuice - Getting it out of the way, the best part of the house is objectively the beginning with the live Beetlejuice. It was always a lot of fun to interact with him. The rest of the house is okay. The best part of it is that it keeps the fun vibe throughout. Sadly though, this house is the biggest offender when it comes to vinyl, absolutely everywhere and ruins just about every scare. And it doesn't help that it ends on a pretty sour note with a very abrupt ending with a Beetlejuice that 99% of guests didn't even see because for whatever reason he's completely off to the side and requires you to turn around *as you're leaving* to even notice. - 7/10
#10 - Revenge of the Tooth Fairy - Just like Brides, I experienced this during the Lite version, and back then I still wasn't its biggest fan. The good: Amazing facade, good and creepy story that does a fantastic job of twisting an innocent children's story, and I can finally hear the narrator, yeah! The bad: The same Tooth Fairy popping out at you every couple seconds. At least they got kinda cute wings added near the end? If they continue the Bedtime Stories idea, hopefully they do a better job executing it. - 6.5/10
Scare Zones
Two great zones, one good zone, one okay zone, and one bad zone.
#1 - Seek and Destroy - I LOVED this zone. From the Stormtrooper feel of the costumes, to the story, to the amazing interactions you can have with the Controller, especially if you're me and he began recognizing you and would have you do very fun and crazy things to continue to heighten your loyalty to him. Also, as one of the guests that was there for the big final speech for the final set, that was one of my favorite HHN moments and a real tear-jerker. Will really miss this zone. Long live the Machine. - 10/10
#2 - Lights, Camera, Hacktion: Eddie's Revenge - Another zone I loved. Really fun vibes in here, especially with the chainsaw clowns and of course the Treaks and Foons. Plus, YES! FINALLY! EDDIE GETS SOME LOVE! Really hope the rumors are true that he'll finally get his due proper and be the Icon for 31. - 9.5/10
#3 - Gorewood Forest - Biggest disappointment with this is not the zone itself, but rather how much I was really hoping for them to fully stick with the 15-year cycle and have this year act as a Tales of Terror sequel with the Terra Queen as the Icon. But alas, we didn't get that. Perhaps in another universe. Oh yeah, the zone. It was pretty cool. Loved the costumes. - 8/10
#4 - 30 Years, 30 Fears - Probably one of the better Plaza of the Stars zones in recent years. Did a great job as a welcome-back to HHN for fans and also as a way to set the tone for newcomers. - 7/10
#5 - Crypt TV - Just a photo op with no scares. Doesn't help I already wasn't too much of a Crypt TV fan. At least the tradition of couples kissing in front of the Look-See was cool. - 4/10
Shows
Halloween Nightmare Fuel - Great show. Can't say much else. Interested to see what they do with these guys and gals in the years to come. - 9/10
Marathon of Mayhem: Carnage Factory - Pretty cool. Wish there was more Icons in it though, and Jack you don't need to tell me 4 times that this is a fear-extracting factory. - 8/10
...Now bring on a Bill & Ted successor with Beetlejuice next year you cowards.
Overall Thoughts
Great year, great 30th anniversary. While I love Jack and the other Icons, hoping the rumors are true and that this will be the last time we see them for quite a good while. Bring on a new era of Icons this decade! Well, that's about it. Overall event rating: 9.5/10
I think it was such a perfectly executed house in so many ways I don't see it being bumped from the best-of list of HHN houses.
This was a very hard year to review and to figure what could've been improved, what couldn't due to circumstances of the world, and etc...
I attended 6 nights total, and HHN Lite last year, and the nights just me and my partner went we found far less enjoyable than the few times we went with friends who were newbies and helped us appreciate the event with fresh eyes. It just continues to show that this is truly the best Halloween event and no where I would rather be during the fall season however even after many fun filled nights I still think this is one of the weakest HHNs I have attended since my start at HHN 18. About half the houses I can dump them and won't think of them again in a short amount of time while the top 5 I will remember and have fond memories but only Wicked Growth cracking my all time favorites list.
The better half (in order):
-Wicked Growth
-Icons
-Brides
-Texas Chainsaw
-Puppet Theater
The bottom half (in order):
-Hill House
-Tooth Fairy
-Case Files
-Scarey
-Beetlejuice
The Better Half con't:
Trying to keep it brief...Wicked Growth easily was the most impressive of the year and of course had those Scarecrow vibes and while I don't think it met the same heights it still was fantastic and most consistent house. Icons was just fun nostalgia for me especially giving more limelight to Chance, Fear and Lady Luck over the "classic icons" and it really has no true reason to rank that high for me when I try to break it down but sometimes my favorite houses need no "reason" if I just am having fun then thats all that matters. Brides like WG was another consistent house for me and managed to snag some private runs during S&S but also like WG/Scarecrow I felt Brides never reached the same heights that Universal Monsters at 29 captured but some real solid scenes and good scares. Texas surprised me as unusually fun and better than the incarnation at 26 especially if hitting it while daylight still outside and no time for eyes to adjust. Puppets was gorgeous and loved the set designs and costumes especially the scene that opens up to the orchestra pit and just giving good dread throughout.
The Bottom Half con't:
In years past I feel like even with my lesser ranked houses I could still find charm or appreciate the idea that a house was going....like Depths of Fear I look back fondly especially as a concept or like Carnival Graveyard with crazy characters and lines like "don't you mess with my Mama!" but these I feel have nothing for me to grab on to that I will remember. Ok so saying such harsh things especially for Hill House feels wrong especially after that great entrance but the house committed the sin of to many black hallways which stopped me from attending Hollywood HHN again and I can't support that. Tooth Fairy while gorgeous and some clever scares/setups I just kept forgetting it and I can't understand why....Case Files as much as I wanted to love this house just never made sense to me and I felt guilty not liking it, it is this year's Graveyard Games for me...a house everyone loved and swore I should adore but some reason just did not sit with me. Scarey ...well I normally am ok with mixed idea or anthology houses and it has never bothered me until this one, waaayy to jumbled and I just didn't get a "best of" vibes just clutter. Then easily one of the worst houses in years was Beetlejuice just way to many missed opportunities, felt poorly designed and just did not capture the charm of the property or similar lighter-"horror" properties of the past like Ghostbusters, Stranger Things or Killer Klownz.
Scarezones really had no impact on me this year...
But the true star of the event this year to me was the shows! Halloween Nightmare Fuel blew me away and was entranced every time I watched, was amazing work. Also found the fountain show a high energy show that helped revitalize my energy for the night and just a lot of fun and shows that I still love good 'ol Jack and Chance although I could use some new footage besides the same HHN 20 stuff for the icons or could have at least added Lady Luck and Fear footage.
Despite my criticisms I still found the energy of the event and love for it at its peak when I was with my friends and enjoying ourselves and I truly felt the HHN magic. I can't wait for the next event as I always do and can't imagine me being anywhere else for Halloween season. However after this year I do have some genuine concerns about the houses and scare zones for the future but the work that is done here is clearly the best in the industry. And I have enough faith in the creative that I can dismiss the short comings of this year to the year off, COVID and just some other overwhelming circumstances. Love HHN!
I attended 6 nights total, and HHN Lite last year, and the nights just me and my partner went we found far less enjoyable than the few times we went with friends who were newbies and helped us appreciate the event with fresh eyes. It just continues to show that this is truly the best Halloween event and no where I would rather be during the fall season however even after many fun filled nights I still think this is one of the weakest HHNs I have attended since my start at HHN 18. About half the houses I can dump them and won't think of them again in a short amount of time while the top 5 I will remember and have fond memories but only Wicked Growth cracking my all time favorites list.
The better half (in order):
-Wicked Growth
-Icons
-Brides
-Texas Chainsaw
-Puppet Theater
The bottom half (in order):
-Hill House
-Tooth Fairy
-Case Files
-Scarey
-Beetlejuice
The Better Half con't:
Trying to keep it brief...Wicked Growth easily was the most impressive of the year and of course had those Scarecrow vibes and while I don't think it met the same heights it still was fantastic and most consistent house. Icons was just fun nostalgia for me especially giving more limelight to Chance, Fear and Lady Luck over the "classic icons" and it really has no true reason to rank that high for me when I try to break it down but sometimes my favorite houses need no "reason" if I just am having fun then thats all that matters. Brides like WG was another consistent house for me and managed to snag some private runs during S&S but also like WG/Scarecrow I felt Brides never reached the same heights that Universal Monsters at 29 captured but some real solid scenes and good scares. Texas surprised me as unusually fun and better than the incarnation at 26 especially if hitting it while daylight still outside and no time for eyes to adjust. Puppets was gorgeous and loved the set designs and costumes especially the scene that opens up to the orchestra pit and just giving good dread throughout.
The Bottom Half con't:
In years past I feel like even with my lesser ranked houses I could still find charm or appreciate the idea that a house was going....like Depths of Fear I look back fondly especially as a concept or like Carnival Graveyard with crazy characters and lines like "don't you mess with my Mama!" but these I feel have nothing for me to grab on to that I will remember. Ok so saying such harsh things especially for Hill House feels wrong especially after that great entrance but the house committed the sin of to many black hallways which stopped me from attending Hollywood HHN again and I can't support that. Tooth Fairy while gorgeous and some clever scares/setups I just kept forgetting it and I can't understand why....Case Files as much as I wanted to love this house just never made sense to me and I felt guilty not liking it, it is this year's Graveyard Games for me...a house everyone loved and swore I should adore but some reason just did not sit with me. Scarey ...well I normally am ok with mixed idea or anthology houses and it has never bothered me until this one, waaayy to jumbled and I just didn't get a "best of" vibes just clutter. Then easily one of the worst houses in years was Beetlejuice just way to many missed opportunities, felt poorly designed and just did not capture the charm of the property or similar lighter-"horror" properties of the past like Ghostbusters, Stranger Things or Killer Klownz.
Scarezones really had no impact on me this year...
But the true star of the event this year to me was the shows! Halloween Nightmare Fuel blew me away and was entranced every time I watched, was amazing work. Also found the fountain show a high energy show that helped revitalize my energy for the night and just a lot of fun and shows that I still love good 'ol Jack and Chance although I could use some new footage besides the same HHN 20 stuff for the icons or could have at least added Lady Luck and Fear footage.
Despite my criticisms I still found the energy of the event and love for it at its peak when I was with my friends and enjoying ourselves and I truly felt the HHN magic. I can't wait for the next event as I always do and can't imagine me being anywhere else for Halloween season. However after this year I do have some genuine concerns about the houses and scare zones for the future but the work that is done here is clearly the best in the industry. And I have enough faith in the creative that I can dismiss the short comings of this year to the year off, COVID and just some other overwhelming circumstances. Love HHN!
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