Halloween Horror Nights 30 (UOR) - News & Info (2021)

[ThemeParks4Life]

Tonight is dead as expected. At 9:30, nothing is over 60 minutes with 4 houses being 35-40 mins. The storms letting up earlier than expected didn't bring any late crowds.

 

[MikePat]

I don't know if this is the right thing to ask... but can someone point me into the right direction as to how I can see these "costumed guests" online because I have not seen this interesting thing yet...

 

[GA-MBIT]

Two years and an apocalypse ago, I tried to predict what HHN30 would look like. I figure after everything that has happened, it might be fun to look back on those predictions since they ended up being one of the first posts in what would become almost 1200 pages of speculation and discussion about the event. A lot has changed since November 2019, to say the least!

Prediction in the spoiler so I don't clog up the thread. Just thought this would be fun!

Spoiler: ga-mbit hhn30 Predictions from november 3rd 2019

PREDICTIONS:

-New Halloween house based off Blumhouse 2018 remake + later scenes in the house based off Halloween Kills.

Nope, there was almost a Halloween III house on the West coast, but nothing here and especially nothing Blumhouse.

-Zombieland gets Trick R' Treatment into full comedy house.

No Zombieland, Beetlejuice is the comedy house.

-We finally see the return of either Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th. Not both.

Nope, TCM returns. Didn't expect to see it back so soon, especially based on the original movie.

-Anniversary house features Scarecrows, Yetis, and some inventive Icon scenes. Will include some kind of reference to Slaughter Sinema (besides the yeti's obviously.)

No Scarecrows or Yetis. We did get some Icons scenes in their house and two Slaughter Sinema references in Scarey/Icons! Whether those Icon scenes could be considered "inventive" is another question. I'd call the Throne Scene a little inventive but eye of the beholder I guess.

-Might also feature Grinners from Graveyard Games and Franks from Monsters but I'm not nearly as confident about those.

Frank returns in Bride house, but no Graveyard Games rep.

-Jordan Peele's Candyman

lol candyman

-Only 10 houses again.

Finally, a fully correct prediction! Not the hardest to guess, but shrug lol

-Better management with reserves than last year due to a close eye being kept on making sure incidents like the lost Bedtime Stories cast don't happen again.

Uhh, casting was all kinds of messed up this year so kinda hard to judge. Pre-covid predictions everyone lmao. Also, remember Bedtime Stories?

-Central Park will not have a scarezone, but the Pumpkins will be back.

Nope, Pumpkins are back in a house. But that's not what I predicted.

-Watershow returns but has mixed to positive reception compared to last year's true positive reception. This is because the choice in IPs in 29 lend themselves much better to a watershow than what they chose for 30.

I called it two whole years ago. It just felt like 29's was really hard to beat. Kinda a perfect Horror-based watershow, compared to the really tone-deaf Hill house/TCM lagoon show.

-Jack will return without much changing about him from 25. Superfans will get upset but the event will go on. I am going to predict a Jack show will be coming back but I don't know where exactly. For the sake of discussion, I'm just going to say it will go in either the T2 theatre or just a custom built stage for HHN. It will not be in FFL.

Called Jack's 25 look returning, but no Jack show. No custom stages/T2 theatre use either. Also, pre-Bourne Stuntacular lol.

-AoV is absolutely coming back and absolutely taking the FFL stage with them. Due to the overwhelming praise compared to previous years, they will lean on the classic Horror feel again rather than experimenting with distopic sci-fi or other horror-adjacent genres.

Uh, 2020 was a weird year, not gonna get into this one too deep. The show that went into FFL was mostly general horror though so there's that.

-Stranger Things will not return.

Yep!

Hill House will not come.

Nope!

-Hellraiser will finally make it's official debut at the event.

Nope! Honestly, have no idea when this'll be added. Could be next year or in like 2024.

-An 80s theme will not be outright stated to be returning, but some remnants of that marketing angle from previous years should be noticeable, if that makes sense.

No 80s theme! They went full force in the anniversary/traditional HHN vibes.

-Rob Zombie will return in some way.

Nightmare Fuel has a Dragula remix. I'm counting it lol.

My predictive house roster should look something like this.

1. Hellraiser
2. Friday the 13th/Nightmare on Elm Street
3. Halloween (Blumhouse)
4. Candyman (Jordan Peele)
5. Zombieland
6. Original House (Jungle theme)
7. Original House (Classic Halloween theme)
8. Original House (Grimy and realistic human theme)
9. Original House (Folklore theme)
10. Anniversary House

Got the IPs completely wrong lol. I called the Classic Halloween and Folklore houses with Wicked Growth/Tooth Fairy. Also called the obvious anniversary house, but not that there would be like, three lol. I probably would count Seek and Destroy a "Grimy/realistic human theme" had it been a house, but alas.

So overall, I got like 2 things right out of ... like 25 lol. Not the best score, but it's kinda what I expected! Not gonna try to predict next years, 2021 is a lot more unpredictable than 2019 was. I have no idea what's going to happen next week, let alone in October of next year. Just gonna try and go with the flow in 2022.

This two year journey of HHN30 speculation has been one of the few consistent bright spots in these crazy times. Thank you to the staff, the insiders, and everyone like me just along for the ride! Here's to a spec season with a whole lot less world-ending viruses, cancellation worries, Iron Maiden houses, and cabin fever! One can only hope at least!

Happy final weekend everyone!

 

[Lucky Planet]

I don't know if this is the right thing to ask... but can someone point me into the right direction as to how I can see these "costumed guests" online because I have not seen this interesting thing yet...

I'll see if I find any and send u a message.
I wish I had pics but not possible.

and today, just now. I saw 4 guys dressed as the founding fathers complete with wigs and full founding father outfits and hats. they all looked like George Washington or something.
at 1:50 am, they were coming out of icons or tooth fairy. it just happened... lol.

 

[SeventyOne]

Something is definitely amiss here in terms of enforcement. If I can't tell in passing if someone is a scare actor or guest, that's a problem. The person in question absolutely resembles a scare actor at first glance. This is not going to end well, especially when many of these folks become outwardly hostile when the rule is brought up.

Saw some spirited debate on Twitter yesterday -- the entitled attitude of a lot of these cosplayers was Disney-like.

It's the end of the run, so I suppose it is what it is for this year - but here's hoping they're more aggressive about enforcement next season.

Agreed they need to be more aggressive next year, but also need to announce they will be before opening night. Too many showed up in costume that night, set the tone for the season it feels.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I don't mind the costumes as long as they don't cosplay as any of the IPs/characters for that specific year, no masks, and don't carry any props with them.

Perfectly fine with someone showing up as a Ghostbuster or whatever, but they better not be carrying a proton pack.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I don't mind the costumes as long as they don't cosplay as any of the IPs/characters for that specific year, no masks, and don't carry any props with them.

Perfectly fine with someone showing up as a Ghostbuster or whatever, but they better not be carrying a proton pack.

As long as scare zones exist then there needs to be a no tolerance policy for costumes. It’s leading to confusion and bad things.

 

[HandsomePete]

I'll see if I find any and send u a message.
I wish I had pics but not possible.

and today, just now. I saw 4 guys dressed as the founding fathers complete with wigs and full founding father outfits and hats. they all looked like George Washington or something.
at 1:50 am, they were coming out of icons or tooth fairy. it just happened... lol.

I saw them around 6:30 so kudos to them for making it all night.

I think the allowing of covid protection masks is creating a loophole where people are sneaking costume things, and they might even claim is for protection. even if the mask doesn't even cover the mouth,

The back of my ticket clearly says, in all capitals with a box around it and probably the second-largest font, no costumes or costume masks allowed. That seems pretty clear to me. You hate to ruin someone’s night, but it needs to be enforced because it can cause problems.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

Just got back from the park. I was able to do 11 run throughs (Wicked Growth and Scarey x2, everything else sans TCM x1), Marathon of Mayhem, dinner + a ride by 11PM. Crowds were manageable tonight and never felt overwhelming. Good end to the season!

Edit: Weekend is officially sold out:

 

[Brandon Voorhees]

Call me crazy, but I went through Brides tonight and definitely seemed like a lot of the vinyl was gone. I had vampire brides coming way closer than I've seen in the last 2 years! My buddy is a theme park vlogger who has gone a tone more than I, and noticed the same.

 

[GA-MBIT]

Having gone yesterday, Brides seems roughly same as it's been. The latter half of the house has honestly always been about as plexi free as parts of Pumpkin. The final Brides hallway with them swinging from both sides at you never fails to get me. Really great performers there.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I can confirm the plexi will be coming down on Monday.

Every time we have this "they're removing plexi!" discussion it turns out to be false and a reminder that people remember it being worse than it was (not saying it's not bad).

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I know people keep mentioning a 2-park HHN with how popular the event is, but I feel that HHN would benefit from having an additional thrill ride open at USF. If F&F were actually a good ride, it would have moved a few guests there. They could also benefit from having a Halloween festival center where the soundstage complex is before taking drastic decisions to use IOA.

 

[Brandon Voorhees]

I was actually referring to the bride towards the beginning of the maze that swings the gate/door (?) Open and come out at you. Maybe it was just a weird run for me, but she'd never come that close before.

 

[Kichkinet85]

Tonight is going to be busy. S&S area at Finnegans is packed. TCM line starts by the entrance to Mummy. Brides starts by Blue Brothers stage.

 

[Lucky Planet]

And I think that actually puts them at a creative disadvantage. But I understand that's part of how they sell tickets.

now that I think about it, it always bothers me to know that they have had cancelled houses or ideas that are never brought back lol.
they could probably fill out a few years worth of houses from cancelled ideas alone.

 

[Legacy]

now that I think about it, it always bothers me to know that they have had cancelled houses or ideas that are never brought back lol.
they could probably fill out a few years worth of houses from cancelled ideas alone.

That’s the nature of a creative product developed for a corporate entity. Probably twice as many ideas of been shot down for the event then have actually appeared.

It’s really not a huge thing.

 

[Speed]

Tonight felt like an early September night, waits were rarely above 60 minutes for every house
Also, the amount of Squid Game costumes is insane

 

[Lucky Planet]

Tonight felt like an early September night, waits were rarely above 60 minutes for every house
Also, the amount of Squid Game costumes is insane

what kind of costume ?

 

[SeventyOne]

Tonight felt like an early September night, waits were rarely above 60 minutes for every house

Very odd. First they opened the night to FFP+, implying slow ticket sales. Then they announce it as a sell-out early (Saturday morning, if not Friday). Only to have what sounds like the lightest crowd in 2 weeks.

I'm convinced more than ever than Express was oversold, particularly with multi-night tickets, and that influenced capacity.

...

Continuing a discussion from the Reviews thread re: repeating houses/shows.

Looking at how the best received houses this year and last (event) are the traditional Halloween fare is why I believe they may be better off bringing back houses like HoS and KSF.

I think the mixed reaction to Tooth Fairy and especially Bride shows what a bad idea this is. Look at my NPS ranking of the houses, or just look at the wait times. A lot of fans rejected both as "been there, done that." The dada-esque nature of HHN has always been one of its top, unspoken selling points. Haunted Mansion has sat there for 50 years--as an HHN guest, you are one of the lucky few to experience 10 E-tickets that will cease to exist forever come November. @LuckyPlanet nailed it:

people expect hhn to always be new stuff

I think this is a huge issue Howl-O-Scream Orlando faces. They had a solid first year, but if they try to get by with only one or two new houses next year like Tampa, I think the Orlando market will turn on them.

That said, an original house tied into some traditional aspect of Halloween every year remains a solid idea. HHN did "The Great Pumpkin" this year, :"Mischief/Devil's Night" last year--still could do witches, werewolves hunting tick-or-treaters, a vampire costume party... As long as a couple jack-o-lanterns can be part of the decor, I think the general public will be keen for it.

Nightmare Fuel was amazing. Question is (SIAP), is there anywhere they can have it next year? Might be a one and done. But what a one it was.

I'm afraid you might be right. Already two of the three illusions are just variations on "the teleporting man." A new show would need a new plotline, new tricks, and still might feel derivative. NF went out popular enough that maybe they could do a second year of the same show and still draw crowds. Shows seem to hold more repeat value. But hopefully A&D's main take-away is thinking outside the box and trying something original can still give you a home run, rather than "we need to extend this show's life like we did Bill & Teds."