That's an interesting observation. While Florida definitely has volume, I've always believed that Hollywood has better production quality overall. While some themes are certainly tired, the level of production in Hollywood is quite evident when it comes to make-up, props, and...well...shows (even though that's no longer applicable).
Regardless I find it ironic that Hollywood arguably lost one of its biggest advantages over Florida in this year's event. Seems fitting, no?
It's really hard because for the first time in about three years I'm not there and I'm definitely biased by judging on the videos released. There's two factors you have to take in that I'm sure people may (rightfully so) argue:
1) Florida has a lot more space to work with, especially since zero construction projects are currently occurring within USF itself at the moment. Whereas USH is tabled with over half the park under construction.
2) Ironically even though the point of UOR is to draw in tourists, it's undeniable that the Florida theme parks have an extremely passionate local fanbase. Yes, you see the small woodwork of fans peter out for the parks every now and then, but it's not nearly as vocal or purely excitable as the east coast. Thus is why HHN EPN over there saw vlogs of various such as Tim Tracker who basically exhume raw energy towards every single thing they encounter. This is then compared with the few videos of HHN EPN for Hollywood which is basically a few maze walkthroughs with a mute cameraman who walks into the mazes with empty queues and little to no other guests. The most energetic thing is the opening Purge scare-monies which is nice at best, but not much we haven't seen before.
Here's what I have to say against this:
1) The fact that half the park is under construction is no excuse. At all. Why? Because when that construction is done absolutely
none of it can be used for Horror Nights anyways. Oh sure, Potter and Springfield will help with capacity but it won't affect the overall experience in any other sort of way. Add in the fact that this event is literally the last time HoH will ever be used, so even less of this lot will be available next year. So space is no excuse. When I look at Florida's scarezones, a good deal of them occur in a small space, but bridled with wondrous constant chaos. Just look up a video of the Bayou of Blood scarezone, which has
hourly blood sacrifices. Last year I clearly remember the Chucky scarezone rarely had Chucky doing his insult stand-up, and when he wasn't that thing was a complete bore. I don't know why Murdy thinks that every single scarezone should be relatively quiet with very little energy to up the scares. It works sometimes, but he should learn that you can have fun and be scared at the same time. Florida understands this so well. Space has nothing to do with it, just crank up the energy and the pizazz. I haven't seen pictures of the Mask-a-Raid scarezone in USH, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't have that awesome chandelier present in the USF version. Little touches like that go a long way. Don't even get me started on how it seems the Walking Dead scarezone in Metro has even been neutered from last year.
2) While there are the Tim Tracker vlogs and such, I also viewed another one that was just a man by himself as well and it was infused with music and an overall feeling of guest excitement. Yes, the HHN there is not a dry event as compared to ours but we have a CityWalk with several bars just outside the gates, and I can assure you from personal experience that is not remotely a factor here. The event doesn't feel dull because people are "sober", it's because it feels like it only wants to scare you. Like as if that's its only priority. Even the Clowns 3D maze (which is one of the most disappointing and cheapest things I've ever seen this event do) has only one element of pure black humor while the rest is shockingly dull. At least the Alice Cooper maze from a couple years back was packed with gags, even the El Cucuy maze last year had its brand of quirkiness. Here it seems that is completely out of the window. And even worse we've lost Bill and Ted. There seems to lack a strong element of fun here, which is only glimpsed at with AvP and AWiL.
Of course it's employee preview night and I wasn't even there in person so yes it's highly, highly unfair of me to judge it this critically. But I saw the beginnings of this start to creep in last year compared to 2012 with a small bit of dulling of the event, now it seems that it has nearly fully spread. And for those who have personally gone and disagree, I definitely want to hear your view on it. The only reason I am going this year is because my sister is a huge Walking Dead nut and I told her that this is very likely the last year for that IP, aside from that I really for the most part am not looking forward to this. I'd rather be on the other coast that seems to want to both scare you and party it up... that's the version of Horror Nights I much more prefer. (and
no WUB WUB does not count
)