Halloween Horror Nights 34 (UOR) - Reviews, Photos, & Videos

[HHN Yeti Lover]

Finally went to HHN. I did 5 nights, and I have to say this year is extremely busy, and they need to add the 11th house badly next year. I think it will benefit from an 11th house and two more live shows or have the RIP Tour go somewhere else so we can get the horror makeup show or Bourne Spectacular open and another attraction because of Rockit being closed. Those wait times were astronomical, but I really enjoyed this year. I think it’s a really good year. I would probably rank it right after 32. I don’t think it’s as good as 29 or 32, but it’s up there.

HHN 34 Review:

Jason Un1v3rse:
I really love this house. They have almost every iteration of Jason, and he is everywhere. I don’t think Jason is scary, but I could see how this house could be terrifying for people because it’s relentless and makes the best use of this location. The second part is intense, and they get in your face with double, triple, and multiple scares. I loved this house. The houses definitely received a big budget this year, as evidenced by the phenomenal set design and scenic work. However, many of the houses are too bright and should be darker to make them scarier. 10/10.

Dolls: Let's Play Dead
Another personal favorite. I do think this is one of the best houses at the event. This house is helmed by a SICK, demented little girl named Lyla, and her creations are reminiscent of Sid's from Toy Story, but still somehow worse. There are decapitated rats, burnt toys, toys turned into spiders, and all. This girl is sick, and even though it suffers from being too well-lit and bright, these dolls are creepy, and this house has some great scares. I love pressing all the guest-activated triggers that do multiple things, including spraying air at my friend Alex, who is a scaredy-cat. 10/10.

WWE Presents: The Horrors of Wyatt Sicks
I am not a WWE fan, so I had this at the very bottom of my hype list. I know a little stuff, but I have to say I am now a fan. This house is a lovely tribute to the late Bray Wyatt, and I am so glad I got to experience it. It's going in my all-time favorites. I loved going backstage at Raw and seeing the carnage and recreation of their debut and all the WWE Easter eggs, production props, and supplies. I think that was a wonderful way to start before we dive into each character's own world or fantasy. It is truly an amazing house and a must-do, even if you don't care about WWE. 10/10.

Grave of the Flesh
I may be a little biased because this was my most anticipated. I love weird and creepy stories and ideas. On the ParkStop Podcast, Alicia Stella commented that this house was David Cronenberg-esque, and I believe that's why I love it so much. This and another house do this body horror element, where you enter someone's body and intestines. It's kind of poetic and beautiful in a way, and the basis of this house is what happens when you die, and as we descend into death and the afterlife, we become particles and antimatter in this weird, strange world that feels like something out of a Jules Verne story. It felt exactly like Journey to the Center of the Earth, except you start in this beautiful, lovely-smelling cemetery. 10/10.

Five Nights at Freddy's
The Jim Henson Creature Shop did their big one with this one. The animatronics and puppets are so beautiful and fluid. They are creepy in person, and I don't want to spoil anything, but this was one of my favorites, and I hate that I only got to do it twice. 10/10.

Terrifier
If we look at the books and specs, this might be the best house, as much as I hate to say it. Art the Clown and his scare actors are incredibly talented, and the set design is amazing. It's disgusting; there's a lot of water effects and sprayers all over the house, and the Christmas hallway is stunning and perhaps my favorite HHN scene ever. You feel both happy and uneasy when you see the flashing Christmas lights, and now I want a Christmas house. The wet path was a fun, unique idea; however, the dry path is rather unimpressive. With the exception of the poop monsters, flesh odors, and poopy, foul-smelling restrooms, it was a fantastic house, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 10/10.

El Artista: A Spanish Haunting
I really wanted to love this house, but for it to be the icon house, it was missing a little something. I wish it were scarier and darker, because it has a phenomenal story, but I never felt like I was in danger. Some of the creatures are beautiful and elegant, and that may be the point, because it is art. It felt like the twin sister of Dead Man's Pier, with its beautiful sets and the ability to see scenes from other sets of the house, a huge recurring theme this year. It's good, but I overhyped it, and it didn't feel like an iconic and leading theme house. 8/10.

Fallout
A perfect recap of the show. I really liked this one and didn't get the hate. Was it scary? No. It was just a wonderful recreation of the show, which could use some better scares. It wasn't terrible, but that shower curtain of the wasteland makes this house lose half a point for me because it could've been done so much better. 7.5/10

Gálkn: Monsters of the North
I had the same problem as El Artista with this house. I think it's a good house, but it's missing a little something, and I wish it was scarier. This house could use some more scares because it definitely has that feel. One scare got me really good, and the set design is phenomenal. It felt like the child of the Isle of Berk and Goblin's Feast. 7.5/10

Hatchet & Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters
Just like El Artista and Galkn, there are some great ideas, but I just feel like it could've been executed a little better. I wish we saw more of the demons ripping people and animals open to possess them by jumping in their mouths. I hated the smell of this house, but I love a good western theme. I just feel like it's too bright, and being able to see other scenes doesn't work well for this house. You want it dark and claustrophobic. Overall, still a great house that I enjoyed, but it wasn't what I expected. 7/10


Shows:
Nightmare Fuel: Circus of Decay
Hey, I actually liked this, but I do feel like they toned down the sexiness. Also, the story is kind of meh. 8/10.

Haunt-O-Phonic: A Ghoulish Journey
Dude, we are so back. This show is just amazing. Those fountains are very enticing and powerful. In keeping with the usual Halloween theme and symphony of Halloween classics, this adorable little tale and lagoon show is a perfect fit. It is nearly as incredible as the first Marathon of Mayhem, and I was genuinely amazed. I adored it. 10 out of 10.

Scarezones & Experiences:

1. The Cat Lady of Crooked Lane
2. Origins of Horror
3. Mel’s Die In
4. Mutation: Toxic Twenties
5. Masquerade
6. Club Horror

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Finally went to HHN. I did 5 nights, and I have to say this year is extremely busy, and they need to add the 11th house badly next year. I think it will benefit from an 11th house and two more live shows or have the RIP Tour go somewhere else so we can get the horror makeup show or Bourne Spectacular open and another attraction because of Rockit being closed. Those wait times were astronomical, but I really enjoyed this year. I think it’s a really good year. I would probably rank it right after 32. I don’t think it’s as good as 29 or 32, but it’s up there.

My friend, I'll be right there with you in the 2026 spec thread banging the drum for an R-rated Horror Makeup Show.

 

[srbmarc]

Just got home from my trip. We did 3 nights, with Friday being our first time doing R.I.P. Tour and doing both Saturday and Sunday with Express. We went through each house once every night.

House Rankings:

1. Terrifier - I'm a huge fan of the franchise and they nailed this house so well. The effects, the scare actors, the scenery were all top notch. I did the wet path all 3 times. 10/10

2. El Artista - Not as creepy as last year's Insidious house, but I definitely felt uneasy going through this. The paintings and drawings on the walls were so unnerving. The story was great, and I almost got taken out by the stilt actor in the very beginning. 9/10

3. Dolls - In my opinion, this felt like the most "original" house in years. I loved how they played with scale and the sets and props were amazing. I'm not a huge fan of using screens in the houses, but this was done really well. 9/10

4. WWE - I'm a casual wrestling fan so I was aware of Bray Wyatt's legacy and knew the lore of the Wyatt Sicks. That said, I didn't know what to expect going into this house, and I was really impressed. The story of being backstage and seeing the group taking out their enemies was brilliant. The music was creepy and fun, and you can tell the cast was way into it. A beautiful tribute to the late Bray Wyatt. He would've LOVED this house. 8/10.

5. Hatchet & Chains - It wouldn't have been my first pick for a Slaughter Sinema spin off (shout out Blood and Chum!), but this was a fun house. The theming was top notch and so were the effects (the "smoke" coming out of the bullet holes in the wall? *chef's kiss*). This also had my vote for best A/C in a non-soundstage house. 8/10

6. Galkn - When this house was first announced, I thought this was gonna be the annual "snowy/wintery" house and I was disappointed that it wasn't. Still, the sets were gorgeous, and I loved going through the "belly of the beast". 7/10.

7. Jason Universe - Our R.I.P. guide said this was the scariest house and he saved it for last because it would give us nightmares. Maybe he was overselling it just a tad? Definitely not the scariest of the year, but the scare actors were on the ball. The final hallway was INCREDIBLE and was one of the best parts of the event. 7/10.

8. Grave of Flesh - Our R.I.P. guide told us this house has been having major staffing issues since day 1. Apparently scare actors have been leaving constantly because the costumes/masks are too much to work in. We definitely could tell on Friday because there were hardly any in our first time through the house. Saturday and Sunday were a little better. The first room with the open grave above you is one of the creepiest things I've ever seen in HHN. The rest of the house was just okay. Gave me vibes of Darkest Deal from a couple years back, which I really enjoyed. This one, not so much. 6/10.

9. Fallout - I was very excited for this house when it was announced. I thought they did a fantastic job re-telling the first season. The cast looked very much like the characters from the show and the costumes/props were stellar. The biggest problem was this house wasn't scary at all. It felt more like one of those activations they'd do at Comic Con. 5/10.

10. Five Nights At Freddy's - If I was a fan of the franchise, I'm sure I would've been more blown away. Don't get me wrong, the animatronics were really impressive. Our R.I.P. guide told us this was the most expensive house ever done at HHN and it took 2 years to put it together, and you can tell. It's all very well put together. My main concern is when you're working with animatronics of that size, it's nearly impossible to hide them and you lose a lot of the scare-factor. For a series that relies on jump scares, they just weren't there for this house. 5/10.

 

[RGMick77]

This is my review from my experience visiting during Week 2 of the event.

HOUSES

1. THE WYATT SICKS - I’m not just saying this because I’m a fan of Bray Wyatt, but the costume designs fit perfectly inside a haunted house. Getting to see The Fiend and Uncle Howdy teaming up for scares was priceless. It also worked really well how each character got their own little world to hide out in.
2. EL ARTISTA - I always enjoy using a haunted manor as a setting for a haunted house. They also pulled out almost every trick they had for scares. If the scares were more intense, it could’ve taken the top spot.
3. TERRIFIER - As someone who couldn’t find a single character they liked in all 3 Terrifier movies, this house surprised me with how fun it was. Art was better utilized in this setting than anywhere in the movies.
4. JASON - The Friday the 13th movies are mostly cheesy fun and I’ll admit that it was my enjoyment of the movies that got this house ranked higher on the list. I enjoyed walking through the cabin setting from the movies, but the hallway of Jasons fell a little bit flat for me.
5. DOLLS - This house was a demented good time. I thought it was really neat to see the giant Lyla looking in the window of the house as she told her creations to kill you.
6. GALKN - I ended up needing to do the Unmasking Tour to really appreciate this house. The story was originally hard to follow, but once I understood what was happening, it was great. Also, the actors were very aggressive during my runs.
7. HATCHET AND CHAINS - The western setting didn’t work as well as I had hoped, but the cast elevated this with their performances.
8. FNAF - I never played the games, and I found the movie to be boring, but the concept of a haunted 80s pizzeria still works for me. What carried this was the incredible animatronics. However, it was not worth the insane wait times.
9. FALLOUT - This house missed a lot of the marks I need from the HHN experience. The story was jumbled, the dialogue wasn’t particularly quotable, the scenes weren’t convincing, and the scares were almost nonexistent. I enjoyed the show it was based on, so that helped it along a little bit.
10. GRAVE OF FLESH - In a year with so many stand-out house concepts, this house wasn’t very memorable. The interior design and the characters all felt repetitive. The story didn’t click for me either.

SCAREZONES

1. CAT LADY OF CROOKED LANE - We got to see the jack-o-lanterns in the trees of Central Park again and that was such a win. We also got a mini show with the cool Cat Lady house. And the random hallway of cat scares was a fun bonus!
2. TOXIC TWENTIES - The 1920s setting didn’t quite work for me, but I had a lot of fun interactions with the actors and the neon green slime looks great at night.
3. ORIGINS OF HORROR - I enjoyed seeing the gargoyles and statues come to life. The conservatory theming on the HHN truss was a great touch, too. The best entrance zone in years.
4. MASQUERADE - The actors were swarming everywhere and dancing around me pretty much anytime I walked through. The stages didn’t really give the actors much to do, however, and the scares were lacking.

SHOWS

1. NIGHTMARE FUEL - My lady and I always enjoy this show together. I wish I didn’t hate the uncomfortable Fear Factor venue so much, but the show is still just as good as it’s always been, so it’s worth to seeing at least once a year.
2. GHOULISH (remix) - It was great to see the lagoon come alive again! It adds a lot of atmosphere. I do wish it wasn’t basically a repeat of Ghoulish from 2022, but I’m only saying that because I was fortunate enough to see it before a hurricane ruined it that year.

EXPERIENCES

1. CHAINSAW CLOWNS - Holy crap the clowns were so fun to interact with! It really brought Springfield back to life this year.
2. MEL’s DIE-IN - It was great to see Mel’s be given a bigger role in the event. When the rollerbladers were out, it was so fun to watch their interactions with everyone.
3. CLUB HORROR - I don’t vibe with dance clubs, but at least it added some life to a spot that basically became a glorified photo op zone.

Overall, HHN 34 was a big bounce back from the previous year. The dead spots in the park were addressed. The lagoon show returned. The actors were more aggressive. The house concepts felt more intentional, instead of haphazard.


Final Grade: A

 

[Returning-The-Reaction]

My exhausted (note: not exhaustive) quick rankings. Subject to change...

1. Jason - Nostalgia points for reminding me of HHN 17's house, a bit. Better than FvJ, but I still prefer the original HHN house.
2. Artista - Beautiful. Wish the scare factor was dialed up.
3. Galkn - Atm, I can't point to anything specific that stands out, but I quite enjoy this one.
4. WWE - Feels more like an old school HHN house than most houses in recent years. This is a good thing, imo.
5. Terrifier - Potential to rise up my list, but can't justify higher than #5 at this point.
6. Five Nights - Scariest part, by far? Yeah, you guessed it... the wait times. Impressive design keeps it above my bottom 3.
7. H & C - A miss for me.
8. Dolls - Doesn't live up to hype I've heard.
9. Grave - Yikes.

Haven't been through Fallout yet. I don't really care for any of the scarezones. Strong dislike for Club Horror. Parkwide music is strong. Lagoon show was ok. Not planning on seeing NF.

This overall event will probably rank somewhere near the middle of events in my 19 years of attendance.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

I KEEP SAYING

It's so funny...that sort of show is generally something I don't care for, but eagerly await the video of it each year.

 

[bagphrases]

Here's my rundown from attending this week.

1. Hatchet & Chain: The whole house felt very pulpy in a good way. It's like a weird hidden gem comic book you'd find in the back of a bin somewhere.

2. Artista: I usually place these moody houses toward the top of my lists so no surprises there. The house wasn't very scary and it didn't quite lean into the "art" of it all as much as I would've liked but the set design and overall mood made up for it.

3. WWE: I know NOTHING about WWE but I was very impressed by this one. The backstage areas transitioning into the fighters... realms was super interesting. Somehow this was the most intense house of the event for me.

4. Galkn: It's like Blood Moon Jr.

5. Jason: Scary scary scary. The claustrophobic hallways really had me tensing up.

6. Grave of Flesh: I'm seeing a lot of disappointment in this one and I can definitely see why, but I like that they went for something weird here. Once we got into the depths of the afterlife, it ruled.

7. Five Nights at Freddy's: Weird boring movie made into a weird boring house. The puppetry was impressive and I caught the elusive running Foxy scare. Mehhh

8. Dolls: I wish that Universal would do a very brightly lit house. The plasticky toy feel got lost in the dark lighting. Despite it all, I enjoyed a few character designs though.

9. Fallout: What can I say that hasn't already been said?

10. Terrifier: Getting tortured by a misogynist clown for 5 minutes while he rubs poop on the walls isn't my idea of a fun HHN experience.

 

[Frank Drackman]

 

[SeventyOne]

While I'll be back a few more times, I think I can finally say my order of favorites is set for 2025, so review time. Spoilers ahead, naturally.

HHN 34 is like all-you-can-eat night at the Irish pub – banger after banger after banger. Easily in the conversation for greatest event of all time. Such a huge turn-around from the disappointment of 2024 that any of my top 7 would’ve been my HotY last year. And even my bottom 3 are, at worst, fair to middling, with some interesting things going on even if they don’t all work. Nothing truly failed. Throw in the best scare-zones in a decade at least, and this is an all-timer.

Houses

10) Fallout – starts strong, but becomes more fan service than haunt once you hit “the outside” (the one effect that absolutely falls flat). Still, the opening vault scenes and the desert market work well, cast seem game to scare. A low-side-of-average house overshadowed by a stellar year.

9) Grave of Flesh – amazing opening with the grave, love the first couple underground scenes, but becomes too weird for its own good and loses the plot. Are we food for worm-monsters or souls eternally damned to wander a blood-dripped MC Escher staircase? But an impressive variety of costumes/props, aggressive cast, worth a walk-through if time permits.

8) Five Nights at Freddie's – the opening façade and room perfectly encapsulate what an 80s night at Charles Entertainment Cheese’s felt like. And some clever rooms after that, like the kitchen and security center. But a single restaurant not enough to sustain a full house of interesting rooms, and the animatronics can be slow to re-set, limiting scares. Still better than the movie and years of online fans dumping on the concept led me to expect.

7) Hatchet & Chains – kept growing on me thru the season. While I still find the demons aren’t very “Western”-like, the effects here are top notch. The zombie horse, the coffin scare, the blacksmith shop, the train station, they all work. Proves animation can be viable, as well.

6) Jason Un1v3rse – make no mistake, despite the ranking, this was a solid house, the best ever in F&F queue. Just a relentless stream of aggressive Jason actors, coming at you constantly, sometimes two at a time. No story to speak of, sets nothing to write home about (I did really like the lightning strike scene), but the cast made this scary, and that’s enough to make a very good haunt. Most years would be a strong contender for #3.

5) Wyatt Sicks – while not the biggest fan of the IP, I really dug this house. Very aggressive cast, and that one “Alexa Bliss” looks like the real thing from just feet away. I like the way it flowed, starting backstage at a wrestling event, then giving each character sort of an “inside their mind” room (the rabbit’s dark take on Wonderland and the hog’s slaughterhouse were standouts), finishing off with a tribute to the late artist who created the concept. Also, that locker gimmick in gorilla position reduced grown men to screams multiple times, scare of the year. Bummed this didn’t seem to connect with a lot of people, given its short wait times.

4) Galkn – a beautiful house, with a variety of great creature designs, some interesting special effects. For example, loved the funeral pyre, and, like H&C, the animation worked well. But after a couple runs, some things a little too samey to past houses (there’s the AWiL wolf again, other rooms felt like a Roanoke/Blood Moon redux). And it loses a point for that ridiculous walk back to it. In the end, liked it quite a bit, but had hoped to love it.

3) Dolls: Let’s Play Dead – an inspired take on the Toy Story Mania queue. So many clever costumes and sets (the Whisker Tickler, E-Z Bake Oven and G.I. “Escape is futile, soldier—Ka-BOOM!” Joe were my favorites). Didn’t really care for the video effects—silhouettes work better—but easy enough to ignore with all the other things going on. The best old-school dark comedy house in years.

2) El Artista – simply gorgeous, and manages to tell a complete story, but doesn’t forget to bring the scares. Beautiful sets feel real. And so many great effects—Pepper’s Ghosts used well, the flying gargoyle actually flew with enough regularity most could see him, that living statue caught so many people off guard. An all-timer for “scenic history” houses, up there with Winter’s Night and Winter’s Wake. Most years, would be my clear HotY. Most years…

1) Terrifier – Go figure. Shlocky movies somehow made an all-time great house. It helps that the movie scenes are more about shock than plot and character development, which suits them perfectly to a haunt. And the house has plenty of tight turns and well-hidden gags with fast turn-around times, meaning the scares are constant. But I think the biggest factor is Art the Clown. He’s not a “bio-audioanimatronic” doing the same motions over and over to a sound cue. He makes eye contact, he mugs, he gestures. It makes him more real. There are quibbles—some seemingly obvious scenes from the first movie were cut, I wish the Tunnel of Fire had a heat element, the Christmas hallway goes on a little too long—but there’s a reason this is getting such long lines when the movies weren’t exactly blockbusters. This is an all-time great house, up there with the original Halloween for best adaptation of a movie.

Zones

7) Club Horror – not really my thing, but I appreciate the effort to try something different here. Crowd flow slightly improved.

6) Origins of Horror – best of these opening zones we’ve had. Chainsaws were aggressive, sets the mood for the event.

5) Mel’s Die-In – kind of one note but still fun.

4) Springfield Clowns – not as many as there once were, not quite as aggressive as in the past, but still glad to see them back.

3) Mutations: Toxic 20s – a very good zone, clever sets, solid actors. Top 3 all some of the best in years.

2) Masquerade: Dance with Death – very aggressive cast, beautiful costumes, exactly what a scare-zone should be.

1) Cat Lady of Crooked Lane – love that the pumpkins are back. Very aggressive cast, huge set pieces, clever story. A clever zone that hopefully sets the standard for future events.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

My guilty pleasure around this time of year is ranking and reviewing the season’s HHN houses. This year, though, is the first time I just can’t do it. 10 houses with unique themes/IPs/locations/aesthetics, yet they all just…blend together for me. So this year the thought I’d normally reserve for a ranking went to the event as a whole and what has changed.

When I first started going to HHN, it was college football while the daytime operation was the NFL. The daytime theme park operation had a lot of money and corporate synergy behind it, and there was a very tried and true formula at play. Meanwhile, HHN pre-2012 was the scrappy little brother; there was less money behind it and the talent was there because of passion. There wasn’t a formula, but more a suite of quirky tics that each year would take advantage of/make its own. If you went to HHN, it was because you were a little bit of a sicko for it, not because it was “the” thing to do.

Ironically, now that college football has become more NFL-lite than ever, HHN has evolved into an off-shoot of the daytime operation. It seems to have become a series of checklist items that have to be marked off in order to get the green light. The house themes are varied enough, but feel like they are born out of convenience more than anything. Yes, Galkn and Hatchet & Chains are cool ideas, but they also represent an efficient and economic reuse of layouts, setpieces, and puppets/animatronics.

Even the elements that have remained consistent feel different. Fans used to point to the use of IP as the turning point, but some of the most well-regarded events in history were IP heavy. The difference is IPs used to be like neutral site games—there was a novelty to them and a fun little bit of synergy with the more mainstream counterpart. IP houses used to make sense in the context of a “haunted house” event (think The Thing or Dead Silence…good haunted house themes but not box office juggernauts). Now, IPs just feel obligatory; HHN secured the rights to Five Nights at Freddy’s and Fallout to attract a wider audience in the same way Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate is being played at Mercedes-Benz this year and Week 0 has been taking place in Ireland; it’s about “growing the game,” rather than making an organically strong product.

Now, none of this is a negative. Fans have been saying stuff like this for years and we’re still attending. And that’s because no matter what the intent is behind the decisions in any given year, the event is such a well-oiled machine with so much talent behind it, it’ll never be outright bad.

But it’s different. I can’t imagine today’s event coming up with a “Dead Exposure” or an “In-Between”…houses with cool concepts that you imagine a couple of guys cooked up sitting on a couch after work passing a blunt around. Because the Dead Exposures and In-Betweens of the world aren’t gonna photograph well on an RIP Tour or be easy to explain on a Twitter review. They don’t fit in with today’s formula. And today’s formula has too much money on the line to be tweaked.

While I’m applying a lot of assumptions to house design in general, this feeling is most evident in the way the food is done now. Years past, you had buffalo chicken tenders, pizza, and bags of liquor available. Now, you can get food from themed snack stands throughout the park that aren’t really designed to be good, but designed to be memorable when you describe them to you friend who hasn’t upgraded to a FFP yet. It’s all got to be “a thing.”

And that’s really I think where the event has sort of lost its spark for me. HHN isn’t really a “horror event” anymore. It’s a theme park event centered around horror, sure, but it’s aimed at, for lack of a better term, “Disney Adults” (and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way because I have a Disney AP and use it more than the average person). The event isn’t about being a scary, high-concept passion project; it’s about serving up themed walk-through experiences for fans of themed entertainment to marvel at (which, of course, they’re capitalizing on year-round now with Fan Fest).

Like I said, this is still a very good year and a very good product overall. But its following has grown too large and too obsessive for it to really be fun anymore. You can’t just go hang out anymore—everything’s manufactured to be a huge production to cater to everything the marketing analytics have pointed to as being successful over the past two decades. Ultimately, I think that’s why I can’t rank the houses this year—they don’t feel unique enough to rank, they feel like the singular product of a singular committee. After years of blaming it on crowds, pre-teens, The Walking Dead, etc., I think I’ve finally nailed what changed, at least for me.

Or maybe I just got too drunk to pay attention. Who knows.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

My guilty pleasure around this time of year is ranking and reviewing the season’s HHN houses. This year, though, is the first time I just can’t do it. 10 houses with unique themes/IPs/locations/aesthetics, yet they all just…blend together for me. So this year the thought I’d normally reserve for a ranking went to the event as a whole and what has changed.

When I first started going to HHN, it was college football while the daytime operation was the NFL. The daytime theme park operation had a lot of money and corporate synergy behind it, and there was a very tried and true formula at play. Meanwhile, HHN pre-2012 was the scrappy little brother; there was less money behind it and the talent was there because of passion. There wasn’t a formula, but more a suite of quirky tics that each year would take advantage of/make its own. If you went to HHN, it was because you were a little bit of a sicko for it, not because it was “the” thing to do.

Ironically, now that college football has become more NFL-lite than ever, HHN has evolved into an off-shoot of the daytime operation. It seems to have become a series of checklist items that have to be marked off in order to get the green light. The house themes are varied enough, but feel like they are born out of convenience more than anything. Yes, Galkn and Hatchet & Chains are cool ideas, but they also represent an efficient and economic reuse of layouts, setpieces, and puppets/animatronics.

Even the elements that have remained consistent feel different. Fans used to point to the use of IP as the turning point, but some of the most well-regarded events in history were IP heavy. The difference is IPs used to be like neutral site games—there was a novelty to them and a fun little bit of synergy with the more mainstream counterpart. IP houses used to make sense in the context of a “haunted house” event (think The Thing or Dead Silence…good haunted house themes but not box office juggernauts). Now, IPs just feel obligatory; HHN secured the rights to Five Nights at Freddy’s and Fallout to attract a wider audience in the same way Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate is being played at Mercedes-Benz this year and Week 0 has been taking place in Ireland; it’s about “growing the game,” rather than making an organically strong product.

Now, none of this is a negative. Fans have been saying stuff like this for years and we’re still attending. And that’s because no matter what the intent is behind the decisions in any given year, the event is such a well-oiled machine with so much talent behind it, it’ll never be outright bad.

But it’s different. I can’t imagine today’s event coming up with a “Dead Exposure” or an “In-Between”…houses with cool concepts that you imagine a couple of guys cooked up sitting on a couch after work passing a blunt around. Because the Dead Exposures and In-Betweens of the world aren’t gonna photograph well on an RIP Tour or be easy to explain on a Twitter review. They don’t fit in with today’s formula. And today’s formula has too much money on the line to be tweaked.

While I’m applying a lot of assumptions to house design in general, this feeling is most evident in the way the food is done now. Years past, you had buffalo chicken tenders, pizza, and bags of liquor available. Now, you can get food from themed snack stands throughout the park that aren’t really designed to be good, but designed to be memorable when you describe them to you friend who hasn’t upgraded to a FFP yet. It’s all got to be “a thing.”

And that’s really I think where the event has sort of lost its spark for me. HHN isn’t really a “horror event” anymore. It’s a theme park event centered around horror, sure, but it’s aimed at, for lack of a better term, “Disney Adults” (and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way because I have a Disney AP and use it more than the average person). The event isn’t about being a scary, high-concept passion project; it’s about serving up themed walk-through experiences for fans of themed entertainment to marvel at (which, of course, they’re capitalizing on year-round now with Fan Fest).

Like I said, this is still a very good year and a very good product overall. But its following has grown too large and too obsessive for it to really be fun anymore. You can’t just go hang out anymore—everything’s manufactured to be a huge production to cater to everything the marketing analytics have pointed to as being successful over the past two decades. Ultimately, I think that’s why I can’t rank the houses this year—they don’t feel unique enough to rank, they feel like the singular product of a singular committee. After years of blaming it on crowds, pre-teens, The Walking Dead, etc., I think I’ve finally nailed what changed, at least for me.

Or maybe I just got too drunk to pay attention. Who knows.

Thank you for reminding me how one of my greatest interests in life--college football--is no longer fun. The fact that my team has been garbage in the 2020s doesn't help. :vomit:

Anyway, this is kind of why I quit going to the event. But at least we got a full-time attraction and land that feels like a work of pure passion, as you say.

 

[Brian G.]

My guilty pleasure around this time of year is ranking and reviewing the season’s HHN houses. This year, though, is the first time I just can’t do it. 10 houses with unique themes/IPs/locations/aesthetics, yet they all just…blend together for me. So this year the thought I’d normally reserve for a ranking went to the event as a whole and what has changed.

When I first started going to HHN, it was college football while the daytime operation was the NFL. The daytime theme park operation had a lot of money and corporate synergy behind it, and there was a very tried and true formula at play. Meanwhile, HHN pre-2012 was the scrappy little brother; there was less money behind it and the talent was there because of passion. There wasn’t a formula, but more a suite of quirky tics that each year would take advantage of/make its own. If you went to HHN, it was because you were a little bit of a sicko for it, not because it was “the” thing to do.

Ironically, now that college football has become more NFL-lite than ever, HHN has evolved into an off-shoot of the daytime operation. It seems to have become a series of checklist items that have to be marked off in order to get the green light. The house themes are varied enough, but feel like they are born out of convenience more than anything. Yes, Galkn and Hatchet & Chains are cool ideas, but they also represent an efficient and economic reuse of layouts, setpieces, and puppets/animatronics.

Even the elements that have remained consistent feel different. Fans used to point to the use of IP as the turning point, but some of the most well-regarded events in history were IP heavy. The difference is IPs used to be like neutral site games—there was a novelty to them and a fun little bit of synergy with the more mainstream counterpart. IP houses used to make sense in the context of a “haunted house” event (think The Thing or Dead Silence…good haunted house themes but not box office juggernauts). Now, IPs just feel obligatory; HHN secured the rights to Five Nights at Freddy’s and Fallout to attract a wider audience in the same way Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate is being played at Mercedes-Benz this year and Week 0 has been taking place in Ireland; it’s about “growing the game,” rather than making an organically strong product.

Now, none of this is a negative. Fans have been saying stuff like this for years and we’re still attending. And that’s because no matter what the intent is behind the decisions in any given year, the event is such a well-oiled machine with so much talent behind it, it’ll never be outright bad.

But it’s different. I can’t imagine today’s event coming up with a “Dead Exposure” or an “In-Between”…houses with cool concepts that you imagine a couple of guys cooked up sitting on a couch after work passing a blunt around. Because the Dead Exposures and In-Betweens of the world aren’t gonna photograph well on an RIP Tour or be easy to explain on a Twitter review. They don’t fit in with today’s formula. And today’s formula has too much money on the line to be tweaked.

While I’m applying a lot of assumptions to house design in general, this feeling is most evident in the way the food is done now. Years past, you had buffalo chicken tenders, pizza, and bags of liquor available. Now, you can get food from themed snack stands throughout the park that aren’t really designed to be good, but designed to be memorable when you describe them to you friend who hasn’t upgraded to a FFP yet. It’s all got to be “a thing.”

And that’s really I think where the event has sort of lost its spark for me. HHN isn’t really a “horror event” anymore. It’s a theme park event centered around horror, sure, but it’s aimed at, for lack of a better term, “Disney Adults” (and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way because I have a Disney AP and use it more than the average person). The event isn’t about being a scary, high-concept passion project; it’s about serving up themed walk-through experiences for fans of themed entertainment to marvel at (which, of course, they’re capitalizing on year-round now with Fan Fest).

Like I said, this is still a very good year and a very good product overall. But its following has grown too large and too obsessive for it to really be fun anymore. You can’t just go hang out anymore—everything’s manufactured to be a huge production to cater to everything the marketing analytics have pointed to as being successful over the past two decades. Ultimately, I think that’s why I can’t rank the houses this year—they don’t feel unique enough to rank, they feel like the singular product of a singular committee. After years of blaming it on crowds, pre-teens, The Walking Dead, etc., I think I’ve finally nailed what changed, at least for me.

Or maybe I just got too drunk to pay attention. Who knows.

I gotta disagree with a lot of your assumptions here. HHN has always checked off boxes, they just weren’t this box office behemoth they are now.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

I may be wrong here - but wasn't HHN literally keeping the lights on for Universal prior to Potter?

That doesn't sound like a scrappy little brother lol

 

[OrlandoGuy]

I gotta disagree with a lot of your assumptions here. HHN has always checked off boxes, they just weren’t this box office behemoth they are now.

Curious as to what specifically. I agree that chalking it up to a “checkbox” is oversimplifying what I’m trying to get at, but that’s why I used the football example. It’s not that the items on the checklist changed, it’s that the way you go about managing them did. It *feels* like HHN of today checks off their boxes by pinpointing what they know the average theme park fan is looking for down to a tee (that obviously doesn’t come from insider info, but look how far marketing analytics have come since the mid-2000’s). In other words, we don’t get a lot of wild swings anymore because there’s so much money now at stake.

My point isn’t that that’s a bad thing, just that there’s enough out there in Orlando that caters to that same audience through that same methodology. I’m not necessarily looking for more of that in my HHN experience, because we already get that at F&W, Mardi Gras, new IP lands, the holiday events, etc.

I may be wrong here - but wasn't HHN literally keeping the lights on for Universal prior to Potter?

That doesn't sound like a scrappy little brother lol

When was your first year attending? It’s not exactly like keeping the lights on pre-Potter was a high bar to clear but I get your point…you just had to be there to understand. Sure, Universal’s daytime operation wasn’t raking in money hand over fist back then, but it still was striving to be that mainstream type of destination through its corporate synergy and decision-making.

Put this way—at one point there was a debate that Stranger Things could become a permanent attraction or replacement for MiB. Financials aside, that would’ve never been up for discussion when it came to Bloody Mary, Dead Silence, Silver Screams, Nightingales, etc.

Thank you for reminding me how one of my greatest interests in life--college football--is no longer fun. The fact that my team has been garbage in the 2020s doesn't help. :vomit:

Anyway, this is kind of why I quit going to the event. But at least we got a full-time attraction and land that feels like a work of pure passion, as you say.

Sorry bro. If it makes you feel better, look at my avatar…I’m going to be thrilled to make a bowl game haha

 

[TheCodeMan95]

When was your first year attending? It’s not exactly like keeping the lights on pre-Potter was a high bar to clear but I get your point…you just had to be there to understand. Sure, Universal’s daytime operation wasn’t raking in money hand over fist back then, but it still was striving to be that mainstream type of destination through its corporate synergy and decision-making.

Put this way—at one point there was a debate that Stranger Things could become a permanent attraction or replacement for MiB. Financials aside, that would’ve never been up for discussion when it came to Bloody Mary, Dead Silence, Silver Screams, Nightingales, etc.

My first year was 2016.

I get what you're saying - but I think the popularity of HHN in general provided them with the ability to get those larger IPs.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

My first year was 2016.

I get what you're saying - but I think the popularity of HHN in general provided them with the ability to get those larger IPs.

2016-2021 are some of my favorite years ever so maybe I’m just full of it then haha.

In terms of IP, I dont know. They were scoring huge IPs like Freddy, Jason, and Leatherface pre-Potter. It was a huge coup but it served the event concept they wanted to build around rather than serving data that showed those IP could bring in an underserved part of the Orlando theme park community.

I’ll shift the analogy away from football and use Marvel instead. Marvel has always been IP. I can easily rank the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies, the Brian Singer X-Men, the prequel X-Men, Daredevil, Fantastic 4, etc. I can’t do the same for the MCU movies. They’re all still huge IP (and overlap in several cases), but the first set of movies I rattled off were created in a vacuum with singular visions that told their own stories while the MCU movies are byproducts of a committee’s attempt to sell one unified product to as big an audience as possible.

Am I saying HHN houses are as corporatized and cynical as the MCU movies? Of course not. But that’s the closest parallel I can come up with. The houses have become less about the ideas and more about the finished products that serve the overarching corporate goals of the event.

 

[Brian G.]

Curious as to what specifically.

Sure. Let me preface by saying I can understand and mostly agree with the notion that there is a lot more "corporate" polish and shine compared to the early years.

There wasn’t a formula, but more a suite of quirky tics that each year would take advantage of/make its own.

I've been going since 02, and there's always been a formula. The formula's just changed now.

In other words, we don’t get a lot of wild swings anymore because there’s so much money now at stake.

I can’t imagine today’s event coming up with a “Dead Exposure” or an “In-Between”…houses with cool concepts that you imagine a couple of guys cooked up sitting on a couch after work passing a blunt around. Because the Dead Exposures and In-Betweens of the world aren’t gonna photograph well on an RIP Tour or be easy to explain on a Twitter review. They don’t fit in with today’s formula. And today’s formula has too much money on the line to be tweaked.

Dead Exposure and In-Between were both budget houses, and weren't so much a "Wild Swing" as necessity being the mother of invention, created out of a lack of funds rather than anything else. They were just well-received compared to other attempts.

You still get the wild swings (last year's Dual Icons, Grave of Flesh) or creative attempts (Tooth Fairy, Darkest Deal) - they just have more money thrown at them now.

Galkn and Hatchet & Chains are cool ideas, but they also represent an efficient and economic reuse of layouts, setpieces, and puppets/animatronics.

Aside from Galkn reusing the wolf puppet and a Goblins mask, nothing in the houses are economic reuse. Galkn's layout is completely different from last year's, which is the first time that area was even used, and H&C was designed by new HHN darling, Dylan Korvath, who created the layout from scratch.

IP houses used to make sense in the context of a “haunted house” event (think The Thing or Dead Silence…good haunted house themes but not box office juggernauts).

Dead Silence was added to push synergy, not because it made for a good haunted house, and that always has existed within the event (People Under the Stairs, Mummy, Fear Factor, Maximum Carnage, Doomsday).

it’s about “growing the game,” rather than making an organically strong product.

Obviously, I agree with "growing the game", but I think the response this year, after last year's complaints from fans and guests, shows they do care about creating a strong product.

I can tell you for a fact, they really do listen to the fans. The passion is still there.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Sure. Let me preface by saying I can understand and mostly agree with the notion that there is a lot more "corporate" polish and shine compared to the early years.



I've been going since 02, and there's always been a formula. The formula's just changed now.





Dead Exposure and In-Between were both budget houses, and weren't so much a "Wild Swing" as necessity being the mother of invention, created out of a lack of funds rather than anything else. They were just well-received compared to other attempts.

You still get the wild swings (last year's Dual Icons, Grave of Flesh) or creative attempts (Tooth Fairy, Darkest Deal) - they just have more money thrown at them now.



Aside from Galkn reusing the wolf puppet and a Goblins mask, nothing in the houses are economic reuse. Galkn's layout is completely different from last year's, which is the first time that area was even used, and H&C was designed by new HHN darling, Dylan Korvath, who created the layout from scratch.



Dead Silence was added to push synergy, not because it made for a good haunted house, and that always has existed within the event (People Under the Stairs, Mummy, Fear Factor, Maximum Carnage, Doomsday).



Obviously, I agree with "growing the game", but I think the response this year, after last year's complaints from fans and guests, shows they do care about creating a strong product.

I can tell you for a fact, they really do listen to the fans. The passion is still there.

And there’s the difference between facts and feelings, lol.

Maybe it’s just as simple as I miss the homegrown budget nature of it. Which is a way less elegant and thoughtful argument but I’ve never really been one for the finer things haha.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Obviously, I agree with "growing the game", but I think the response this year, after last year's complaints from fans and guests, shows they do care about creating a strong product.

I can tell you for a fact, they really do listen to the fans. The passion is still there.

I think this is the biggest thing.

They saw the response to last year, and immediately flipped and created what is likely one of the best years of the event ever.

And there’s the difference between facts and feelings, lol.

Maybe it’s just as simple as I miss the homegrown budget nature of it. Which is a way less elegant and thoughtful argument but I’ve never really been one for the finer things haha.

Hey, I like the homegrown stuff too - but that's what I go to local haunts for lol