HHN 2024

[mergatroid]

One of the best gimmicks for me a few years back was in the Insidious house if I remember correctly. We were at the entrance and the team member asked us to wait a moment. When we were let in a girl was stood just inside and said "Do you mind if I go round with you guys, my boyfriend has gone ahead". I felt all macho thinking "Ooh she's looking at me to protect her" and said "Of course, no problem".

As we took the first turn she said "Ooh I see him" and ran ahead only for a scare actor to jump out, stab her pulling part of her t-shirt off (I assume Velcro or similar?) to reveal a huge blood splatter. She was then dragged back into the boo hole with him. I remember thinking what a great effect, only seen by a handful of guests I suppose but felt really different and clever.

 

[JoeCamel]

A scene that stands out to me from years ago, I don't even remember the house, but you'd walk into a room and one scareactor was huddled over another scare actor "lying on a table", and suddenly he'd rip her spine out and shove it in your face. I'm not even super into gore or anything but stuff like that has stood out to me way more than boo hole after boo hole.

Spine Rip, The Bone Chandelier and so many others are staples the fans look for. Spine Rip has appeared more often than HHN Bear I think

One of the best gimmicks for me a few years back was in the Insidious house if I remember correctly. We were at the entrance and the team member asked us to wait a moment. When we were let in a girl was stood just inside and said "Do you mind if I go round with you guys, my boyfriend has gone ahead". I felt all macho thinking "Ooh she's looking at me to protect her" and said "Of course, no problem".

As we took the first turn she said "Ooh I see him" and ran ahead only for a scare actor to jump out, stab her pulling part of her t-shirt off (I assume Velcro or similar?) to reveal a huge blood splatter. She was then dragged back into the boo hole with him. I remember thinking what a great effect, only seen by a handful of guests I suppose but felt really different and clever.

She surprised me, pulled into line right in front of me and woosh she got ripped out, I hadn't seen anything like that before. Nice gimmick

 

[Tom Morrow]

I only went twice this year, don't think I'll go a 3rd time. House rankings and thoughts:

1. A Quiet Place - felt this was the most immersive and atmospheric which is what I care about most since nothing really scares or startles me in these houses anymore. Loved how they managed to make it feel quiet while still technically having a lot of sound.
2. Insidious - definitely the most intense house this year.
3. Goblin's Feast - To me, original houses are best when they have a simple and straightforward setting and story. This one nailed it.
4. Major Sweets - Felt the most like old school HHN houses with lots of physical movement to create scares and a raw feeling to it.
5. Slaughter Sinema 2 - Lots of fun, just like the first one.
6. Ghostbusters Frozen Empire - I haven't seen either of these new films but this had some really impressive sets.
7. Monstrous - Not terrible but too similar to Chupacabra from a few years ago.

(I thought the remaining 3 houses were pretty terrible)
8. Eternal Bloodlines
9. Museum: Deadly Exhibit
10. Triplets of Terror

All three of these lacked a clear and concise story, setting, premise, and were just completely forgettable. My friend took all the house tours and explained Eternal Bloodlines to me as well as Triplets of Terror and it still barely made sense. Eternal Bloodlines might have the most needlessly complex backstory of any house ever. I think this is the first of my fourteen HHN seasons where three whole houses seemed downright bad to me.

Other thoughts:

- I think the massive queues set up for the two new tents is kinda awful. The lanes between the ropes for the switchbacks are too narrow and too long. I can normally handle crowds just fine but this felt a little too compact and overwhelming.
- I think I witnessed more people vaping, smoking, taking weed hits etc than I ever have before.
- Please adopt some sort of chaperone rule. Way too many g*d d**m teenagers.
- The event really needs a second show to eat crowds, perhaps even a third. Also, losing Simpsons and Transformers as available attractions doesn't help either.
- Express passes didn't seem to be super over-sold this year, so that's a plus.
- The additional food stands set up everywhere was a nice touch.

I'll probably have more later.

 

[Rob562]

One of the best gimmicks for me a few years back was in the Insidious house if I remember correctly. We were at the entrance and the team member asked us to wait a moment. When we were let in a girl was stood just inside and said "Do you mind if I go round with you guys, my boyfriend has gone ahead". I felt all macho thinking "Ooh she's looking at me to protect her" and said "Of course, no problem".

As we took the first turn she said "Ooh I see him" and ran ahead only for a scare actor to jump out, stab her pulling part of her t-shirt off (I assume Velcro or similar?) to reveal a huge blood splatter. She was then dragged back into the boo hole with him. I remember thinking what a great effect, only seen by a handful of guests I suppose but felt really different and clever.

I've heard about the stooge scare actor. With the storyline they set up for the house I was surprised it wasn't something they brought back for Chupacabra the other year. (A village luring tourists in specifically to kidnap and sacrifice them) That big plaza in the middle just seems like it was perfectly designed for a victim to be dragged out of the conga line.

As for my thoughts on this year.... I'm a relative newbie for HHN. I live out of state, so my trip is an extended weekend where I go 3-5 nights. My first year was 2019. (I also got to go through the first Stranger Things house when they opened it up to day guests for that one day in Nov 2018, which convinced me to come back for the full event next year)

This year, like last year, was fine but is going to be a generally forgettable year. Yes, there were definitely some highlights, but my gauge on whether it's a good year or not is whether there are houses that I am truly sad I will never be able to go through again.

The first Yeti house, Chupacabra, Puppet Theater, the Monsters in Egypt, Hill House, Killer Klowns, Realm of the Pumpkin, Graveyard Games, the Icons house from HHN 30. I'm gutted that I'll never be able to see those again. It might just be because our first year (HHN29) was an extremely strong year and it set my mental bar so high. But I think it goes beyond that.

Perhaps now that Epic is finishing up they can turn their attention back to HHN and improve for next year.

-Rob

 

[mkt]

I went four times this year. Without much detail, here’s me favorites for the year.

1- A Quiet Place - the only one that actually scared me. On top of being fun
2 - Ghostbusters - so much fun
3- Insidious - It didn’t scare me as much as it was a fun mindf**k.
4/5/6 (3 way tie) - Slaughter Sinema 2, Major Sweets, Goblin’s Feast. These were just fun and gave me the most old school vibes without as much old school gore
7 - Eternal Bloodlines - So much missed potential, but not horrible
8 - Monstruos - Also so much missed potential, and as a latino I found it obnoxious
9 - Triplets of Terror - The food truck was better than the house
10 - Museum: Deadly Exhibit - It just sucked.