Halloween at Universal Orlando 2020

[OhHaiInternet95]

Yes. Completely.

How many ideas have I come up with that have never occurred? Or concepts that countless other haunts figure out HHN has never used? New concepts are absolutely achievable.

I'll take your word for it (even if I do love a lot of your concepts, still finite).

@shiekra38 : Like I would be perfectly okay if they just recreated the houses that year (even leaving out you-know-who and her house) as permanent attractions--literally any that weren't in an extended queue.

I can dream...

 

[TheGentTrent]

I think the idea of repeating houses, that maybe 10% of the audience saw in a year that is extraordinarily different than past or future, is detrimental to the event is maybe not rooted in reality.

Yeah, it’s way too early to determine that bringing back a couple of houses for one year will turn this into Howl-o-Scream 2.0.

 

[Neo]

As someone who's been going 15+ years, I can tell you that if they returned any 10 year old houses I wouldn't remember much of anything from them. I travel down to Florida and go 2-5 days at that's it. I think it's only the super duper local fans who go 15+ nights a year that would have the memory of something that old and possibly be disappointed by "been there, done that" feelings.

We like to talk about "us" super fans vs the GP, but I think repeat houses (from years ago and not returning consecutive years) would put most of "us" in the same boat as the GP and not being bothered by it. Only the people who go through houses 25 times a year and build up a real memory of it will be affected. I go through each house up to 5 times a year, that's a total of 15min of time in my life. I'm not remembering much of anything from that in a few years. Not to mention the fog of alcohol involved. I remember the guy being electrocuted in the beginning of Hellgate Prison, my favorite house ever, and how explicit the barker was with his insults, but I can't remember a single other detail of the house.

 

[Grabnar]

I'll take your word for it (even if I do love a lot of your concepts, still finite).

When you factor in sequel houses you're looking at endless permutations. Just taking the Nightingales houses, you could do:

• Nightingales in Rome (like last year)
• Nightingales in Mesoamerica
• Nightingales in the plague
• Birth of the Nightingales (like a prehistoric house)
• Nightingales in (TERRIBLE EVENT HERE)

Ad nauseam.

IP's are what will run out before originals.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

No repeats. Always keep moving forward. If you want a concept to come back that’s one thing, but not a complete house.

 

[GA-MBIT]

I can see both sides, but I wouldn't really mind if they started doing "HHN Legacy" houses from 15-20 years ago and remake/reimagine them with modern budgets and creative philosophies. I feel like I would probably be a little more invested in the HHN Original brand if they brought back stuff like the Terra houses or Legendary Truth or even big name originals like Meaty Meetz or Bloodngutz. Then there's the issue of all-timers being literally lost to time in both memory and archival footage. I also really wouldn't mind it if they sometimes tried old ideas that just didn't turn out the first time. Like, once we get to that point in time, going back and trying to reimagine/remake Depths of Fear the way it was supposed to be would be kinda cool.

Of course, I wouldn't want an entirely old lineup. At most, a 1/4 or 2/3 split on Legacy/New originals. I'm pretty sure the creative teams are different now than they were then, so who knows how these houses could turn out looking like.

But again, throwing HHN30 Part 1's unused houses in HHN30 Part 2 is a lot different than even AWiL or what we are discussing here.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

I can see both sides, but I wouldn't really mind if they started doing "HHN Legacy" houses from 15-20 years ago and remake/reimagine them with modern budgets and creative philosophies. I feel like I would probably be a little more invested in the HHN Original brand if they brought back stuff like the Terra houses or Legendary Truth or even big name originals like Meaty Meetz or Bloodngutz. Then there's the issue of all-timers being literally lost to time in both memory and archival footage. I also really wouldn't mind it if they sometimes tried old ideas that just didn't turn out the first time. Like, once we get to that point in time, going back and trying to reimagine/remake Depths of Fear the way it was supposed to be would be kinda cool.

Of course, I wouldn't want an entirely old lineup. At most, a 1/4 or 2/3 split on Legacy/New originals. I'm pretty sure the creative teams are different now than they were then, so who knows how these houses could turn out looking like.

But again, throwing HHN30 Part 1's unused houses in HHN30 Part 2 is a lot different than even AWiL or what we are discussing here.

I would prefer they do sequels to some of those—“Leave It to Cleaver: Meaty Christmas!”

 

[BoSoxFan1022]

I understand that there was discussion of these houses being open for more dates, is that still possible or are they definitely done forever/until next year?

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I understand that there was discussion of these houses being open for more dates, is that still possible or are they definitely done forever/until next year?

That felt never more than wishful thinking. Nothing I’ve seen suggests they are opening back up this year.

 

[Mad Dog]

Time for Christmas stuff.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Stupid to ask maybe for January, pre whatever they try to do for Mardi Gras, maybe one or 2 of these houses are open again on the weekends? Beetlejuice used to have a show year round (not the same thing I know) so its not like the IP is super strict to Halloween. Just a thought, Id imagine they are not going to be doing this as prep begins for next year but just a thought to get crowds in this January as I could see that being a reallyyyyyyy slow period this year.

 

[JungleSkip]

Stupid to ask maybe for January, pre whatever they try to do for Mardi Gras, maybe one or 2 of these houses are open again on the weekends? Beetlejuice used to have a show year round (not the same thing I know) so its not like the IP is super strict to Halloween. Just a thought, Id imagine they are not going to be doing this as prep begins for next year but just a thought to get crowds in this January as I could see that being a reallyyyyyyy slow period this year.

No

 

[SeventyOne]

Stupid to ask maybe for January, pre whatever they try to do for Mardi Gras, maybe one or 2 of these houses are open again on the weekends?

Universal has the right to use the IP during HHN 2020 (and hopefully jumped through hoops to get it back for 2021) -- using it during Mardi Gras would be an entirely new contract.

 

[vgp]

Stupid to ask maybe for January, pre whatever they try to do for Mardi Gras, maybe one or 2 of these houses are open again on the weekends? Beetlejuice used to have a show year round (not the same thing I know) so its not like the IP is super strict to Halloween. Just a thought, Id imagine they are not going to be doing this as prep begins for next year but just a thought to get crowds in this January as I could see that being a reallyyyyyyy slow period this year.

At some point there's not a lot of juice left to squeeze out of the orange, and I think that's where the 2 houses were at. Not to mention the time/cost of setting up the houses, and the BOH areas/space utilization becomes more of a problem with some of the events that happen early in the year.

 

[RevFreako]

Stupid to ask maybe for January, pre whatever they try to do for Mardi Gras, maybe one or 2 of these houses are open again on the weekends? Beetlejuice used to have a show year round (not the same thing I know) so its not like the IP is super strict to Halloween. Just a thought, Id imagine they are not going to be doing this as prep begins for next year but just a thought to get crowds in this January as I could see that being a reallyyyyyyy slow period this year.

I don't believe so.

 

[GA-MBIT]

They would definitely rather keep BJ special for next September than risk overplaying it before then. This was their big IP this year (more or less), it'd be like opening Ghostbusters in March 2019.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Universal has the right to use the IP during HHN 2020 (and hopefully jumped through hoops to get it back for 2021) -- using it during Mardi Gras would be an entirely new contract.

As yes, the contracts. How could I forget.

To clarify I didn't expect them DURING Mardi Gras, but before that event started to tide over for January a bit. I see everyones point though and obviously, makes sense.

 

[shiekra38]

HHN is in September, it will be here before you know it

 

[Shinigami]

Which soundstage has the Macys Ballons for the new Holiday experience? Did they have to use one of the HHN Soundstages?

 

[Nick]

Which soundstage has the Macys Ballons for the new Holiday experience? Did they have to use one of the HHN Soundstages?

We know HHN didn’t have SS22 anymore and this is a pathway that looks like it may lead straight to that sound stage.

They had plenty of empty sound stages to pick from, no need to mess with the HHN stuff, I’d think.