The Old HHN 30 Speculation Thread (2020)

[Living Dead Dude]

Hey I don’t know if this is the place to ask this but I live on the east coast and plan to go to HHN this year due to the virus and the delays of announcements when you think would be a good time to book stuff or is it to late? JW

The first year I went was kinda a last min decision and found a hotel and airlines no problem like the week before

 

[JJ591]

I'm going to pretend some of the above comments didn't happen because they're matters we've been repeatedly asked to take to the appropriate thread(s).

The FFP talk fits though, and is personally relevant and concerning. I think it's still too early to tell, but I worry that if I don't pick up BOGOs now and then FFPs wind up not happening, will they cap the BOGOs and I'll be SoL? If I were an in-state resident, it wouldn't be as troublesome to me; but coming from out-of-state, I don't want to miss out if the event does happen at reduced capacity.

These are all "time will tell" and "I'm sure the heads of operations are waiting for data & results in the same way many are", so at the end of the day: It is what it is, live & let be, c'est la vie!

This is EXACTLY my concern (assuming we don't get any further info on FFP before July 22). Do I buy the BOGO then have the FFP available the next day and be kicking myself? Or, do I chance it, pass up the BOGO offer, and have no FFP deal, and be totally SOL? And I am an in-state resident, and it's a mild concern now that will become a much bigger concern by the time we get to mid-July if we have no info on FFP. For now, just throwing it out there so everyone can maybe be on the look out for any FFP info.

 

[Cwoolboy]

Since the 20s had a significnt lack of icons, what if we got a zone of memorable original house characters? It could include the characters from Saws and Steam, Dogs of War, the weeping angels and ghosts from Winter's Night, Plague Doctors, Body Collectors, Edgar Allen Poes, The Forsaken, Demons from the In-between, inmates from Shadybrook, H.R. Bloodengutz, Cindy, etc. There is a wealth of material there for them to work with.

 

[Verdicoshna]

Not sure if this has been answered but what happen to the scarecrow rumor? A few months ago it sounded to be a for sure house but it just died when the "speculation maps" came out.. I Personally like the idea of it having a scene or two in an anniversary house rather than a sequel..

 

[Sledge]

This is EXACTLY my concern (assuming we don't get any further info on FFP before July 22). Do I buy the BOGO then have the FFP available the next day and be kicking myself? Or, do I chance it, pass up the BOGO offer, and have no FFP deal, and be totally SOL? And I am an in-state resident, and it's a mild concern now that will become a much bigger concern by the time we get to mid-July if we have no info on FFP. For now, just throwing it out there so everyone can maybe be on the look out for any FFP info.

Echoing the same sentiment, but coming from Texas with 6 others and had a general cost for FFP in the budget. I see that the UK is selling a FFP, but that started before anything was shut-down. I looked at the option of buying from the UK site, but they require it to be shipped and they are not offering a digital option. Now I'm wondering if there is any sort of mail forwarding from the UK to the states. I know certain business exist in the US going outbound, so I'd assume they would have something similar in the UK...

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

Not sure if this has been answered but what happen to the scarecrow rumor? A few months ago it sounded to be a for sure house but it just died when the "speculation maps" came out.. I Personally like the idea of it having a scene or two in an anniversary house rather than a sequel..

It's not really an easy house to continue the story of. What do they do after they've risen? I guess they could find people to make into new scarecrows, but that just sounds too similar to, say, Giggles and Gore.

 

[4hartthreat]

There is still the rumor of an unknown original out there. Why can't it be Scarecrow?

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

There is still the rumor of an unknown original out there. Why can't it be Scarecrow?

I guess they *could* fit the whole Pumpkin King story in there. I would like to point out though that a Scarecrow sequel would almost certainly require a good amount of SIF. Which is an absolute non-starter this year.

 

[Pedro Navarro]

I'd rather hold off on Scarecrow, the house was awesome but I'm sure they would want to make the sequel house as scary and intense as the first and up a notch maybe but right now I'd think it's best to just hold it off till they would be able to do it somewhere down the line. I wouldn't doubt seeing a scene from the house appearing in the anniversary as they were a few they could choose from.

Also I wouldn't expect this year to be what it was intended to be, definitely keeping low expectations on what is coming or not. This year is getting more and more interesting as times go by. Of course it will not be at the level 20 and 25 were at but I'm sure it will be a decent good year hopefully.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

I'd rather hold off on Scarecrow, the house was awesome but I'm sure they would want to make the sequel house as scary and intense as the first and up a notch maybe but right now I'd think it's best to just hold it off till they would be able to do it somewhere down the line. I wouldn't doubt seeing a scene from the house appearing in the anniversary as they were a few they could choose from.

Also I wouldn't expect this year to be what it was intended to be, definitely keeping low expectations on what is coming or not. This year is getting more and more interesting as times go by. Of course it will not be at the level 20 and 25 were at but I'm sure it will be a decent good year hopefully.

Well, 21 is widely considered to be better than 20. I can see a similar dynamic happening with 30 and 31.

 

[Pedro Navarro]

Well, 21 is widely considered to be better than 20. I can see a similar dynamic happening with 30 and 31.

21 was very well with storytelling, although many people have mixed feelings with Lady Luck, I very much enjoyed 21, from Saws N Steam Into The Machine to H.R. Bloodengutz, Winters Night, so forth, I would put it alongside 18 in having a year where everything felt so balanced intertwined with one another to tell a big story and with such an interactive site to keep you lingering on for more information about the houses. 20 really was a mixed bag but I really dug what they were trying to do with it, I'd of course would have loved for the alternate version as well but we all know what happened and it's alright , not saying the year was bad but it was a decent year. I'm not sure where 31 will lie but I'm hopeful whatever it brings that A&D will give it their all next year as they are trying for this year.

 

[Brian G.]

20 was a better overall event. 21 had stronger house line-up.

 

[Clive]

20 was a better overall event. 21 had stronger house line-up.

was it, though...?

 

[Legacy]

was it, though...?

Yes.

 

[ChaseTuff]

Behind-the-Scares: The Hive from Halloween Horror Nights 2017

This isn’t your mushy-gushy vampire story

blog.universalorlando.com

This went unnoticed between the other stuff yesterday, but it seems they’re going to be releasing a lot of these old house stories on the buildup.

 

[Tobias]

20 was a better overall event. 21 had stronger house line-up.

From all accounts there's no question 21 had a stronger house line-up, though I can totally understand 20 being better overall when you factor in the scare zones. 20 had a very nice line-up of scare zones, while 21 got double dinged by Lady Luck's zone (the first time Sting Alley was lackluster, which stunned a lot of folks), and then there's Nightmaze. The zones in 20 didn't have lows like that.

 

[SirAustin77]

I thought there was a rumor for the Scarecrow sequel being a zone in Central Park? Maybe I misheard, I don't know.

 

[ChaseTuff]

I thought there was a rumor for the Scarecrow sequel being a zone in Central Park? Maybe I misheard, I don't know.

I’m pretty sure that was people on this forum stating what they though should happen with Scarecrow.

 

[Cwoolboy]

21 has been my favorite year out of the 10 I've attended.

 

[Clive]

Yes.

I just don't know. I thought HHN20's house lineup was pretty mediocre, with only Catacombs (yes, hi), HAVOC, and OrFanage (!) standing out or making a lasting positive impression. Street wise, the only two I really have strong feelings for were the nostalgia-fests (i.e. 20 Years of Fear and Fear Revealed). The rest, both across mazes and zones, I found pretty below average, despite some good ideas at work. The Bill & Ted that year was fine, but nothing spectacular. There was also the matter of the hype for Fear that pretty much collapsed as it became clear there was no payoff. The year was a lot of bark, no bite. (That museum they held in La Bamba was neat, though.)

HHN21 had arguably one of the best maze lineups ever, with only The Thing (2011) standing out as maybe less than great, but still an average, competent maze. Obviously Nightmaze was a blunder given what they were going for, and those Lady Luck Monster masks were... rough, but I seriously thought that zone improved dramatically as they beefed up the cast over the course of the run. The rest of the zones I thought were very good to stellar, including 7, which is one of my GOATs. Sure, it had the problem of "icon and buildup is sort of a letdown," but HHN20 had the same issue with higher stakes.

Of course... this is just my opinion. But if I were to get to revisit an event, I'd go with 2011 every time.