I moved away a year and a half ago and can't visit. Used to go 7-8 times a year to Horror Nights with people, whats the thoughts on this year if anyone here has gone so far?
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so, Horror nights
- Thread starter HakunaMatata89
- Start date
You've got your good and bad, like every year.
No complete clunker houses, but Giggles & Gore is rather mediocre and Dollhouse ends very abruptly. Halloween is probably the standout, with Walking Dead III being surprisingly bearable. I dig Roanoke as well. I'd probably appreciate AVP more if I didn't know how inferior it is to Hollywood's version.
The scare zones are pretty meh, although The Purge would be pretty good if it had more actors. They're spread too thin. Face Off is a glorified photo-op.
Bill & Ted is a pretty big step back from last year, which I didn't LOVE to begin with. Could use new writers.
71jason
Well-Known Member
Largely agree with JT in broad strokes. Halloween is this year's Gothic, head and shoulders above all the other houses. Everyone seems to agree Dollhouse is impressive as well--unique and creepy.
As for the rest, nothing going to make any long-timer's 10-Worst list, but nothing goes beyond "slightly above average" either. Roanoke and From Dusk Til Dawn are very polarizing it seems--I like the latter but a lot of people hate it--and Dracula Untold is sort of underwhelming. Wasn't impressed with TWD, but general public seems to be; it is a long house. AvP has cool alien puppets, not much else. Giggles & Gore feels like a lot of previous Disaster houses, only thrown together with clowns.
I like Purge and Maskerade, great casts, tho I'll probably remember neither in 5 years. I agree with JT, Face Off is a glorified photo-op--but it's a pretty spectacular photo-op, the make-up is amazing. Bayou of Blood was neutered by the P.C. police opening weekend, destroying its reason to exist.
Also agree Bill & Ted is a step down, tho I loved last year's show. Very uneven, with the dance numbers not up to last year's. There are two Frozen segments, however, that may be the funniest thing in the show in the past 5 years--worth sitting through the rest just to see them. A surreal take on the Hobbit and How to Train Your Dragon has also grown on me, tho I can't explain why it's funny. It just is.
Crowds have been bad this year, and I suspect will only get worse. The event has outgrown the venue.
As for the rest, nothing going to make any long-timer's 10-Worst list, but nothing goes beyond "slightly above average" either. Roanoke and From Dusk Til Dawn are very polarizing it seems--I like the latter but a lot of people hate it--and Dracula Untold is sort of underwhelming. Wasn't impressed with TWD, but general public seems to be; it is a long house. AvP has cool alien puppets, not much else. Giggles & Gore feels like a lot of previous Disaster houses, only thrown together with clowns.
I like Purge and Maskerade, great casts, tho I'll probably remember neither in 5 years. I agree with JT, Face Off is a glorified photo-op--but it's a pretty spectacular photo-op, the make-up is amazing. Bayou of Blood was neutered by the P.C. police opening weekend, destroying its reason to exist.
Also agree Bill & Ted is a step down, tho I loved last year's show. Very uneven, with the dance numbers not up to last year's. There are two Frozen segments, however, that may be the funniest thing in the show in the past 5 years--worth sitting through the rest just to see them. A surreal take on the Hobbit and How to Train Your Dragon has also grown on me, tho I can't explain why it's funny. It just is.
Crowds have been bad this year, and I suspect will only get worse. The event has outgrown the venue.
Milla4Prez66
Active Member
I thought it was a good year and an improvement from last year. The scarezones aren't the best ever, but at least they are there. FDTD was a total crapfest but the other 7 houses all have redeeming factors going for them. Halloween is probably a top 10 house of all time.
Frankie The Beer
Well-Known Member
Going for the past 10 years I can honestly call HHH 2014 the worst HHH ever in terms of what is being presented.
Halloween is the best house I have ever done on Universal property.
Giggles is the worst house ever conceived and the people who designed it and approved it should be fired. The crowds are the worst ever, as is paying to get in and being almost forced to pay up to 120 bucks for the express pass which you might have to buy. So you could be spending almost 200 bucks per person just to experience one night HHH. That's some serious price gauging. And when we were there we saw 2 fist fights break out while waiting, this isn't the love and magic of Disney.
I was completely underwhelmed with HHH this year. I try to go at least 2 times every year but this one is a stinker. Universal used to own this kind of event, but other haunted houses around the USA have sprung up with state of the art scares that have surpassed what Universal does now, hopefully Universal will look at the competition and try to get back in the game a little and be the best.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this year a 2.
Halloween is the best house I have ever done on Universal property.
Giggles is the worst house ever conceived and the people who designed it and approved it should be fired. The crowds are the worst ever, as is paying to get in and being almost forced to pay up to 120 bucks for the express pass which you might have to buy. So you could be spending almost 200 bucks per person just to experience one night HHH. That's some serious price gauging. And when we were there we saw 2 fist fights break out while waiting, this isn't the love and magic of Disney.
I was completely underwhelmed with HHH this year. I try to go at least 2 times every year but this one is a stinker. Universal used to own this kind of event, but other haunted houses around the USA have sprung up with state of the art scares that have surpassed what Universal does now, hopefully Universal will look at the competition and try to get back in the game a little and be the best.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this year a 2.
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
I went for the first time this year (HHN included with AP) and thought it was just OK. I am not the correct demo for this event (60 but nuts) and found the lines crazy for what you experience at the end. On the other hand B&T was great, they need to find out how to do a show of this quality year round. Do it most nights before they light up the lagoon and they would have a draw like the BMG show included in the park admission. It will cost but be worth it.
Not planning to return anytime soon, I can go to my local HH for the "scares" that were delivered at HHN. I did like the FDTD but again I am not the demo for "normal" scare houses. Zombie/vampire biker girls in bikinis - yeah I'm in. Maybe that is why I liked B&T as well, not going to see a shrink about it, I am comfortable with it.
Not planning to return anytime soon, I can go to my local HH for the "scares" that were delivered at HHN. I did like the FDTD but again I am not the demo for "normal" scare houses. Zombie/vampire biker girls in bikinis - yeah I'm in. Maybe that is why I liked B&T as well, not going to see a shrink about it, I am comfortable with it.
Disneyhead'71
Well-Known Member
I saw a fight this year at HHNs.
sounds like i didnt miss much then.
Minthorne
Well-Known Member
I went 10/17 and did the Arcane Insights tour.
My impression over all?
Meh.
Super crowded, conga line through houses with nothing inventive or really scary, employees in the houses rushing people along and ruining the mood. Anything creative and clever seems to have been removed to accommodate the massive crowds.
I think HHN24 let itself go.
My impression over all?
Meh.
Super crowded, conga line through houses with nothing inventive or really scary, employees in the houses rushing people along and ruining the mood. Anything creative and clever seems to have been removed to accommodate the massive crowds.
I think HHN24 let itself go.
Frankie The Beer
Well-Known Member
mergatroid
Well-Known Member
We went for the first ever time this year and thoroughly enjoyed it, though obviously we have nothing previous to compare it to. Got frequent fear passes and went 3 times getting there an hour before opening time on each visit. This allowed us to do all the houses with our longest wait being about 30 mins for The Walking Dead (even though we went straight there at opening, the stay and scream and express pass guests kept us waiting for that time). Enjoyed the Rocky Horror tribute show more that Bill &Ted and went to it all three nights whilst we did Bill & Ted twice. Would definitely go again and would definitely get the frequent fear pass as having dystonia means doing all houses in one night would mean a lot of standing and walking and take a lot out of me. Doing it over two or three nights however gives me a much more relaxed and less tiring experience.
Milla4Prez66
Active Member
The majority of people have seemed to agree this year was a step up from the past several years. Mainly because they actually have scare zones again. The houses have been met with pretty good reviews too, every year will have a stinker or two so you can't judge the whole event based on a bad house.
As someone who is a HHN fanatic who knows the event's history, this year was far from one of the worst. I think it was the best one in a while, I wish we could get icons back and kind of a more overall theme every year rather than a mashup of houses and scare zones but the times have changed.
I also agree HHN is becoming too big for itself now, I was there last Sunday when there was supposedly an estimated 41,000 people in the park. That is an insane amount of people for Universal Studios Florida. They have to figure out some ways to spread crowds, and I think bringing IOA back into the mix is a good idea. That way you could add a couple extra houses there while having big attractions like Hulk or Spider-Man to draw people too. If they are going to keep it at USF alone then they have to add more because it's too much.
71jason
Well-Known Member
Crowds have been off the charts, which always hampers enjoyment of any event.
71jason
Well-Known Member
Wait, so you missed Cold Blind Terror, Fear Factor, People Under the Stairs, Reflections of Fear, Friday the 13th, Terror Mines, Afterlife, Penn & Teller New'kd Vegas, The Spawning, Blood Ruins, Interstellar Terror, Resident Evil, Havoc 2, Dracula Untold ...
Seriously, more poorly conceived than Cold Blind Terror?
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
He's just not the same without the hair, is he?
I suspect, as is usually the case, that many of the more negative reviews are coming from noobs (I mean that in the nicest way possible.) If you already know exactly what to expect from HHN, this year's event is no more imperfect than many previous years. It's not a favorite, but I can think of several HHNs that were considerably worse. The big out-of-the-ordinary issue this year has been the extreme crowd levels, even on non-peak nights.
A couple of those were better than G&G imo, but yeah, I've seen MUCH worse, especially out of houses I consider to be the weakest of their respective events (G&G included.) Still not a fan of the last few "our budget ran out" rooms however.
I thought he was just trolling though, especially after seeing the Disney comment. I guessed wrong?
Its rolls never bothered it anyway.
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figment1988
Member
Giggles and Gore wasn't that bad. it was like a dark twist on cartoon violence mixed with the whole evil clown concept.