My thoughts on HHN's 2009

[Metallicat]

IMO, the last really good HHN's was the years they had it in Islands. I remember Psycoscareapy (sp?) stands out in my memory as being a really good one. that one and Scary tales.

I'm glad they always use the dizzy bridge tunnel in one of the houses.

 

[Metro West]

Same here ... we went our first Thursday night in Orlando, then with our RIP tour on Friday, and only decided to go back the following Thursday so we could get our money from our FFP

Yup...I got my money's worth but not a lot more.

IMO, the last really good HHN's was the years they had it in Islands. I remember Psycoscareapy (sp?) stands out in my memory as being a really good one. that one and Scary tales.

I'm glad they always use the dizzy bridge tunnel in one of the houses.

The "fun house" house is almost a given. My first house ever in 2004 was Disorientorium...remember that one?

 

[Metallicat]

Yup...I got my money's worth but not a lot more.

The "fun house" house is almost a given. My first house ever in 2004 was Disorientorium...remember that one?

I'm not sure...was that the one that had the black and white checker board walls, with scare-actors that blended in and you couldn't see them?

I liked Jacks house with the 3D glasses.. I think they have had two in the past.. Jack is always scary. wish they would bring him back.

Deadtropolis and the Zombie scare zone was

and the year they had a house inside the Kong attraction and we walked underneath Kong was really good too.

 

[Metro West]

I'm not sure...was that the one that had the black and white checker board walls, with scare-actors that blended in and you couldn't see them?

 

[Metallicat]

That was a really good house... and I remembered it because it stood out and was different.

 

[Jason71]

While I completely agree the scare zones just don't cut it this year, I'm surprised at the relative lack of love for the houses. For me, overall, best year for houses since 2004. They seemed to have taken a page from Howl-O-Scream and made them a bit longer. The theming in Wolfman and Frankenstein is incredible--elaborate, immersive sets. Not a huge fan of the Saw franchise, but they're trying unique things in that house I've not seen before. And unlike previous years, there's no real stinkers. Even the weakest--for me, Dracula and Spawning--would have been "alright" houses any other year; there's no "Terror Mines" or "Bloody Mary" that I'm telling friends to just skip.

And Bill and Ted bounced back this year, best since the Lex Luthor/Jack Sparrow-heavy one. Got to show some love for the Wyld Stallions.

 

[macraven]

there are some years in the past that made an impression on me on certain houses and this year i have no complaints.

i thought the theme was great!
loved all the houses but 2 of them.
those two just didn't do a thing for me while some others loved them.


whatever the houses are for each hhn, i still love the event.
totally and completely addicted to it...

some houses stand out more for me and i think that has to do with the team and their timing.

too bad the public can't view all of the houses in the daytime to see all the details put into them.


start the letter, email campaign at the end of this season to have the UTH/unmask the horror tour for 2010!

also, if peeps read up in advance on the storyline or background of the house theme, it makes better sense and all falls into place when you go through them.

some years are stronger than others for me.


so looking forward to HHN XX.......

 

[lauren5406]

I haven’t been able to get around to my opinions on the event even though it has been two weeks since we got back because of an unfortunate end to my evening dealing with a drunken sister (she’s not allowed to drink next year).

I agree with the opinions on the scare zones, they just were not as well done as last year. There isn’t a single one that left a lasting impression where as last year I couldn’t get several of them out of my head for weeks (the tree guy that was over in the one where the war zone is this year – amazing). I also wish there would have been some further to that back corner over by Bill and Ted. With where we started and my touring plan it was two hours into the event before we even got near one.

The houses were very good and I had a great time with them. With the economy and everything did they employ less people this year? It seemed that there were several houses where the startles were few and far between. Even if they weren’t as scary I absolutely loved the set design in the Frankenstein, Wolfman, Dracula houses. Leave it to Cleaver was a pleasant surprise and I would have loved to have been able to go through that one a second time (it was the only one we didn’t). Saw was good but I wanted great so I was a little let down on that one. Chucky was tame, but how could Chucky be scary; the balloon pillars with the strobe lights did provide me with my biggest startle though with someone hiding in there. My sister liked the Spawning one a lot more than I did but she was also drinking a lot more than I did. I liked Silver Screams and would have loved to see more of the masked pick axe guys from My Bloody Valentine but nothing else really stands out (this was our first one and it almost seemed like everyone wasn’t in place yet).

I will say I have never gone to any of the shows before and was really pleasantly surprised by Bill & Ted. I probably wouldn’t have given it a chance this year either if it weren’t for all of you so I’m glad I did. Thanks.

IMO there were no great houses but they were all good and nothing disappointed me. Last year, there were a couple great but some pretty bad. So, they’re about even there. Scare zones though, were not that good. I’m really looking forward to next year already and wish I wasn’t so far away. Or, I wish they could somehow do a “weekend” ticket for out of town guests where you can go more than once in the same weekend. That would be totally wicked but will most likely never happen. Closing at midnight though is too early…I was sad to leave and was hoping for an extension like the Sunday night I went last year.

Forever in my mind nothing can compare to the Texas Chainsaw house from 2007; I nearly died and I’m not a scardy cat. That one is my haunted house love forever.

 

[chataro]

Ok let the sadness begin. I think I just went to HHN for the last time this year last night. I just don't see Thursday working out for me and I only wish they would have the event just ONE MORE DAY for us FFP holders on Sunday Nov. 1st, but seeing as that ain't going to happen. *Sigh* last night was it. I ended up going 7 times this year, which is my personal best for HHN, and I wanted to give my thoughts on this years event.

First and foremost, I will say that HHN to me is my favorite time of the year by far. I look forward to it every year and I know that fun will be had each and every time I get to go. My wife got to go 6 of those times with me and we were also able to introduce HHN to 5 newbies this year and everyone of them loved it and can't wait til next year.

Here's my "review"

Houses:
To me, there was not a weak house this year. Every house had something about it that made you want to go back to and see again. Unlike years past, I really didn't like skipping any of the houses each night I went because of the strength of all eight houses. If I had to rank them they would be:

1. Wolfman
2. Dracula
3. Frankenstein
4. Chucky
5. Leave it to Cleaver
6. Silver Screams
7. Saw
8. Spawning

The top three could easily be interchangable because all three of the soundstage houses were deep in detail and great things to experience. Chucky was unique and I loved the play on toys and they really managed to bring Chucky in your face. Leave it to Cleaver was so different and I really liked the progression of the house from "nice" to slowly getting more and more evil. Silver Screams was very cool in the way the house was laid out. Going from movie to movie really made the house connect nicely and the way they did the movie posters really helped. Saw was saw. I don't think it was big on scares as much as just visiting scenes from the previous movies but it worked in letting us all walk into Jigsaw's world. Spawning ranked last for me only because I never really got a good feel for this house. I still think it was a good house, but I just never got into it.

Scarezones:

This seems to be the main gripe that everyone is having with this year and I will admit that this years scarezones do not beat last years at all. My wife and guests had plenty of scares in the zones this year, but a few of them were just down right weak. Here would be my ranking.

1. War of the Living Dead
2. Lights, Camera, Hacktion
3. Containment
4. Horrorwood Drive In
5. Apocalypse
6. Cirque Du Freak

War of the Living Dead was really effective as far as the groups I was with. My wife got it bad just about every trip though here and the scenery was amazing. Lights, Camera, Hacktion was a great concept, but I really still feel that the Chainsaw Drill Team did not need a official scarezone to be effective. I kind of liked them better when you just didn't know where they were going to be. Containment had some good potential and I think if they could have kept the fog in those tunnels a little thicker, we could of had a great zone. Horrowood gave you the pic ops and some good scares if you weren't looking for them. Apocalyse had good scenery but them keeping it in a smaller area then using the whole street in previous years really cost them. Cirque Du Freak was a total fail for me and I really don't know what Universal was thinking with this scarezone other than promoting the movie and I hate to say that based on opening week numbers, it didn't work. Much too small of area and I found myself avoiding this area because I really didn't care for it one bit.

I saw Bill and Ted and thought that this was better then the last two years but I think this has to do with the generation gap catching up with me even though I don't want to admit it. I have never seen the Rocky Horror Picture show, so I can't and won't judge that one.

In closing, I love HHN and am already counting the days til next years event. I can't ever say it enough that we are truly lucky to have an event like this to go to. I might not have loved every aspect this year, but I loved attending each and every time that I got to go. Thank you Universal for all the fun and all the scares in another great year of HHN.

 

[inkkognito]

I agree with those of you who said the houses are good/consistent this year. Not totally, utterly great, but no real stinkers either. Silver Screams, Frank and Saw are my top three in no particular order, and I've gotten addicted to Cleaver. Love Chucky and Drac too, and Wolfman is great when the timing is right (but "meh" when it's not...it's not as easy to time Wolfie like you can in Saw if you know it well). Spawning is last on my list, but that's not at all to say that it's bad...it's just that I'm used to the strobes and disorientation now, whereas I got totally lost and confused in the beginning of the season when I ranked it much higher. I guess I'd call it an "average" year...not a major, woo-hoo standout but a solid event in terms of houses.

 

[Melisa1]

I leave in 2 days for HHN and I can't wait!

 

[Metallicat]

I leave in 2 days for HHN and I can't wait!

Have a great time!

Maybe the reason this years HHN's wasn't that great to me is because my DD that has went with me every year, didn't go this year and I took my niece instead. sorta threw off my fun balance if that makes any sense.
I'm used to following DD around, this year I did the leading. maybe that was it.

 

[PatriciaH]

We thought this year was very week. Fans of HHN on Facebook seem to think the same. I liked Leave it to Cleaver, Frankenstein and Saw (missed a lot in here though.) The rest were very lacking to me. DH thought Saw was week though so go figure. I thought Silver Screams was awful. We saw about 4 scareactors in the whole house. We went through that one around 10pm too so not early. The scarezones were not good at all. I also think they oversold the EP on the night we were there. The entrance was not very exciting Hoping they bring back the two parks, great houses and scarezones for the 20th!

 

[BuckeyeGuy28]

I've been going since just 2007, but I have to say that that was the best year, followed by 2008, and then this one in last. For those of you who are going still, it's AWESOME!!! Just doesn't compare well to last year or especially the year before.
Part of the reason may be that 2007 was my first year so I was pleasantly surprised. Last year, I thought that there were too many weak houses (Doomsday, Scary Tales, etc.) that didn't match the strong ones (Interstellar Terror and Dead Exposure). This year, all the houses are solid, but still, they don't match the awesomeness of the couple of good ones last year. Plus, the scarezones are pretty lame.
Anyway, still loved HHN this year. I think next year they should cut it out with the movies though, because there's no creativity in that, even though 2007 movie-theme has my vote. Anyway, that's just my 2 cents have fun everybody

 

[JaxGuy]

This year was my first time going to the HHN events so I really have nothing to compare it to but being a big fan of the movie series at this years HHN Id have to say it was so awesome. I thought the Houses paid attention to detail which a movie fan would really appreciate.

A few of the big scares for me was in The Spawning which was really disorienting and great because if the people in the House were wearing masks you couldnt tell because of all the effects.

My favorite house was Leave it to Cleaver which had a cool video in the loading queue and even creepier mascot.

HHN Event as a whole 9/10

Chucky House 7/10

Saw House 8/10

Leave it to Cleaver 9/10

Frankenstein 6/10 - Not a bad looking Frankenstein monster but the start of the house and the house used too much smoke and it was harder to see.

Scarezones were ok but not great.

I loved the Bill and Ted show.

 

[inkkognito]

I can't really rate the houses numerically this year because they are all so different. Here are my quick impressions, based on 14 nights so far this year:

The soundstages (Wolfie, Frank, and Drac): If I had to rank them, Frank would be my favorite, followed by Wolfie and Drac, but Wolfie is almost tied for number 1. Only problem with that one is some parts are scene based, and if you miss the scenes it is much less impressive. I got one of my biggest scares of the year in there tho'. In Frank, I like to see my hubby getting attacked...a pleasant change from the attacks being on me. Drac is consistent...lots of jump scares from the brides. And of course the scenery in all the soundstages is great. I like the gypsy camp in Wolfie and wish they had scareactors out in front of the other two.

Cleaver: The first time through I hated it because I had totally different expectations. Once I adjusted that, it soared to the top of my list. I just love the dark humor (and watching people get lost in the chainsaw area). It's so hard to describe this one; it's sort of a "love it or hate it" house. I think it will be the one I miss most when this year is over.

Saw: Great house, but very scene-based so if your timing is off, you will exit thinking, "What was that supposed to be?" I love it...those pigs are downright creepy, and they do a great re-creation of the trips. It's just a pain having to get there early because the line gets insane, so we usually hit it two or three times early on.

Silver Screams: The most under-rated house of the year. Universal didn't play up the Usher icon this year because of the three movie icons, so people tend to be clueless in this house. I really like it, especially the "behind the screen" scene. It rarely has a line, except on really busy nights, because people head right to Chucky.

Chucky: Speaking of Chucky, this is your typical "funhouse" haunted house, and I enjoy it because I like those types of houses. The entrance tunnel is wicked disorienting and there are some good jump scares, although the best ones are a matter of timing.

Spawning: I like the heavy strobe use at the end of this one (I literally got lost the first time through this year), and there are some good jump scares. It doesn't really have scenery changes because it's all in the sewer, so don't expect major production values like the soundstages.

I feel sorry for people who only get to go one or two nights because I think you get a totally different view of the event. My viewpoint always changes over the course of the year as I see the houses evolve and get to see more details.

 

[jpeppers]

There are also a lot of little details that can easily be missed, like the tourist getting snatched at Saw. We never would have known about that if we didn't take the tour Macraven just mentioned.

Howl-O-Scream has been doing this (grabing the tourist) for a few years!

 

[yaytezIOA]

All I have to say is that next, being the 20th, needs to be more intense and more evened out than this year. Last year was my perfect example...not every house hit, but the ones that did hit big.The zones were all perfect even the little ones...and they used more make up rather than go with just the rubber masks....With another reunion year they should really amp this joker up big time.