HHN 2019 Sep 6 - Nov 2

wdw93

wdw93

Member
Gaston's gal said:
I was just at Universal this week. Hope to come back for this fabulous event! I am even thinking of doing the "RIP" tour package. :)
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The RIP tour is the way to go!! We have attended HHN 4 times, 2 with the RIP tour and it is the best way to go; you see everything and get all the background for the houses. The cast members are fantastic!
 
TheDisneyDaysOfOurLives

TheDisneyDaysOfOurLives

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Animaniac93-98 said:
Universal Monsters is what did it for me. Ghostbusters and Strangers Things are also in my top 3 "most excited to see".

Everything else, including the new fountain show which I'm also interested in, is icing on the cake.

I like the line up better than last year.
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Ghostbusters is what I'm most excited about. When they announced it, I told my wife I had to go. Alas, it's not going to happen, but Ghostbusters was the point where I knew this year was going to be amazing.

ryan1 said:
This is my 19th year in a row but finally getting a killer klowns house is just the best. Especially since I no longer get the best thing about HHN each year, Bill and Ted.
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19 years is damn amazing. It was my favorite event when I lived in Orlando. Now that I think about it, my first one was about 19-20 years ago! 😂
 
Benjamin_Nicholas

Benjamin_Nicholas

Well-Known Member
wdw93 said:
The RIP tour is the way to go!! We have attended HHN 4 times, 2 with the RIP tour and it is the best way to go; you see everything and get all the background for the houses. The cast members are fantastic!
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I agree. I've done private RIPs since inception and have tried to stick with the same guides year after year.

Our current guy has been with us for 10 years, both as a day guide at USO and for HHN. Wouldn't be the same without him.
 
J

JT3000

Well-Known Member
I'd expect to see more of an unfinished product than usual tonight, but at least it's happening. If nothing else, it gives the actors an opportunity to practice for paying guests.
 
J

JT3000

Well-Known Member
My initial house ranking:

1. Graveyard Games - Easy choice here. The result of Art & Design being allowed to do what they do best.

2. Universal Monsters - Didn't have as many larger scenes as I thought it would, relying mostly on cramped hallways, but still good for what it is. See it at night or you'll miss the projected entrance.

3. Ghostbusters - Lacking scares, but not spectacle.

4. Yeti - A bit corny and woefully lacking in Disco Yeti references, but I'll excuse it this one time. Yetis could be more intense.

5. Nightingales - Not bad. Too dark in places. Still could've done grander things with this theme. Should've been in a soundstage.

6. Killer Klowns - Fun house, much better than the "scare" zone, although the last several scenes appeared to be missing their actors/gags for me. I'll have to see this one again.

7. Depths of Fear - Effective setting completely undermined by ridiculous costuming. :facepalm: Seriously, whose idea was this? I don't get the sense that this was supposed to be the comedy house, yet here we are.

8. House of 1,000 Corpses - Meh. Much better than what was in this venue last year, but that's not saying much, is it? Only fans of the movie will have even the faintest clue what's going on.

9. Stranger Things - It's not in last place because the last couple scenes are its only redeeming qualities. Are we done with this ill-advised IP yet?

10. Us - aka "Let's Recreate That Movie You Saw Shot-For-Shot. You Know, The One That Wasn't Even Scary In The First Place."
 
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General Mayhem

General Mayhem

Well-Known Member
House Ranking:
1. Universal Monsters - Amazing sets, great interpretations of the characters
2. Ghostbusters - extremely fun and loving tribute
3. Killer Klowns - loved every second of this house
4. Depths of Fear - The sets and effects are fantastic
5. House of 1000 Corpses - really fun house
6. Yeti Terror of the Yukon - the scares in this one are great, and the theme is fun
7. Graveyard Games - great house, just not as memorable as the others
8. Us - not a fan of the film so I didn't really care for it...
9. Nightingale Blood Pit - Repetitive, dull, disappointing, and goofy
10. Stranger Things - Quite possibly the worst house I've ever been to at HHN.
 
Tom Morrow

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
Each year this event seems to be slightly more toned down than before ever since the alcohol was cut back 3? 4? years ago. I'm mostly okay with this because it often got out of hand but I miss the "theme park in hell" feel the event used to have. I miss the overarching themes and character hosts. The scare zones are no longer about scaring and intimidating and are more just photo ops or performances. The roaming chainsaw gangs are apparently gone too. I'm not sure if the house jump scares are getting lazier or I'm just overly familiar with them. After so many years of attending this event, it's all starting to feel extremely same-y and it gets harder and harder for me to even rank houses. I never once even flinch because walking through these houses and Universal's tricks are now second nature, but I swear they used to be more varied. That's not to say the houses aren't impressive - they absolutely are.

I'll need to do them again before ranking them all, however, and this seems to be the case every year - the original houses are much more interesting and detailed than the IP houses, with the exception of Universal Monsters, which was a great tribute to the characters. It had the best costume and makeup design as well. It was also nice to see Universal using and honoring its own IP library for once. Otherwise, you can tell how much creative freedom they have in the original houses compared to the IP houses, which often feel restrained by stipulations in the contracts and needing to do a checklist of key elements from the IP.

Yeti was probably my favorite house for it's very original concept and rich, detailed sets and setting. Every yeti that appears was different, which helps keep it interesting. They seemed to refrain from doing an Expedition Everest joke, too. Each yeti's trigger effect includes a blue strobe light, but I don't think this is supposed to be a reference.

Depths of Fear was my second favorite for it's amazing sets, effects, lighting, and audio. The best houses, on my opinion, are the ones that are a trippy onslaught of the senses and have a feeling of tension throughout. This, in my opinion, is the best example of that this year. What stops it from being my top pick is the main scares are from the same creature over and over, and the creature looks cheesy.

Nightingale Blood Bath and Graveyard Games are also both very well done and impressive set-wise, but the themes are not particularly memorable or original.

Killer Klowns is fine, BUT they have done a LOT of goofy, circus-y houses over the years and this felt like all of those.

Us is probably the closest an IP house has ever felt to being a dark ride version of the film. It's a scene for scene replay. Which is okay. Typically I find when the scareactors are just normal looking people, it comes off as awkward.

Similar situation with House of 1000 Corpses. For whatever reason, the Men in Black tent house is never very good and this year is no exception. In fact I'm pretty sure some of the sets were reused from last year's BlumHouse.

Sadly, I feel that the two headliner houses are the worst. Ghostbusters is brought down significantly for several really cheesy and poorly done effects. They attempted Pepper's Ghost but it looks low budget and cheap. The biggest letdown was that the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was just a stationary projection. Any sort of puppet or moving figure would have been better. ALso some filler scenes with ghosts that were not in the movie.

Stranger Things was kind of bad last year and was awful this year. I agree with General Mayhem that this might be the worst HHN house ever made. The show itself is a genre mashup and does not translate well to a house. They mainly focused on season 2 which is understandable, given that season 3 is only two months old, but unfortunate because season 2 was bad and season 3 was stellar. Having a bunch of small demidog puppets or static figures as scares was a terrible misstep. the pacing is weird, and there are too many "make sure you notice (famous character)" moments where the character is just standing there awkwardly. The whole house is just awkward.

To conclude, I'm nitpicking but again not saying that the houses aren't impressive, because they are. But overall I think the event needs to try some new approaches and I'd like to see less of a reliance on not just IP houses but trying to scene-for-scene recreate the IP's rather than create a setting.
 
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Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm sad to find out The Invisible Man is not in the Orlando Monsters house like he was in Hollywood's last year (done with black light paint and using audio from the original movie). At least Creature From the Black Lagoon is featured this time.
 
Q

Quinnmac000

Well-Known Member
Animaniac93-98 said:
I'm sad to find out The Invisible Man is not in the Orlando Monsters house like he was in Hollywood's last year (done with black light paint and using audio from the original movie). At least Creature From the Black Lagoon is featured this time.
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At the press conference for the media, they said the invisible man is in fact in every room....(I think they were making a joke)
 
jumpinjamie

jumpinjamie

Active Member
What kind of wait times has it been so far? I'm guessing Stranger Things and Ghostbusters are 1 hour+ waits? I'm going Thursday September 19t from 8pm until close (can't get there early) and I don't know if I should buy the express pass to make sure I do at least 5 mazes.
 
Q

Quinnmac000

Well-Known Member
Benjamin_Nicholas said:
HHN has gone out of their way to make the event less scary... And it's a damned shame.
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I disagree...I think the event has changed to the point where the audience attending doesn't want scares they want Instagram-able moments and the places that have scares, are the houses the general public don't have interest in.
 

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