Halloween Horror Nights 2018 (USH) General Discussion

[Spookies n' Stuff]

Was there any smells this year?

There were actually, the only ones I remember especially was an old musty smell for Blumhouse and a weird sort of embalming fluid smell in part of poltergeist

 

[TerminatorX]

Does anyone know where the Stranger Things inspired food items are found in the park? I'm going on saturday and I'd love to try some of those.

 

[Guygas]

Does anyone know where the Stranger Things inspired food items are found in the park? I'm going on saturday and I'd love to try some of those.

I saw a tweet that showed it was where the taco truck is in the backlot
Apparently Benny’s burgers is across from the mummy

 

[Guygas]

There were actually, the only ones I remember especially was an old musty smell for Blumhouse and a weird sort of embalming fluid smell in part of poltergeist

Any pumpkin smells this year?

 

[cdogsumo]

Done. Yo @cdogsumo you just posted the barcode to your ticket, deleted it to watch out for you.

I am, however, an idiot.

Happy to see more positive reactions to the event tonight! Was getting a little worried tbh

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

Any pumpkin smells this year?

Almost definitely, I've just had more trouble noticing since pumpkin is a common scent for me this time of year

 

[Freak]

Just got home. I’ll post more in my review soon, but it’s an okay year...well actually, one maze pushed it from being okay to good: Monsters. Holy. Crap.

More on the event soon.

 

[CowMissing]

Opening Night...




Halloween Horror Nights" at Universal Studios Hollywood brings together the sickest minds in horror to immerse guests in a living, breathing, three-dimensional world of terror.

 

[foodstampsFTW]

Guys, this year’s really friggin good.

 

[Rideguy70]

I've enjoyed the vids I've been seeing of the opening Scaremony this year (though I never really ever get to see it personally, because I take advantage of the early entry, haha). Just curious, does Orlando have an opening Scaremony as well? I've never seen a vid of one, and the one time I went (last year), I did early entry as well, so I would've missed it even if they did have one. But I will say, ours does a great job at getting the crowd hyped that's become a great tradition as the chainsaw chase out at the end of the night (which, does Orlando do that as well? I didn't seem to think so...).

Also to make us feel better here in Hollywood, since I didn't attend last night (going tonight), I was on twitter seeing all the updates from both parks... and while Orlando's mazes seem to be getting pretty great reviews, they're also getting a lot of complaints about poor line management, and 2+ wait time for every single maze. The YouTube channel Expedition Theme Park claimed in Orlando, "Seriously... we got in the line for stranger things at 12.30. We waited 50 minutes for them to tell us the house was closed and we had to leave." :/

I bring it all up because I feel often here in Hollywood, we feel the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. And yes, while many of Orlando's mazes are great, we have our own traditions and great things mentioned above (not to mention the password maze giveaways), as well as a greater sense of community here. As well as a lot of other high quality Haunt options in our own backyard (Knott's, SFMM, Sinister Pointe, ROT, Creep, Dark Harbor, Haunted Hayride, Horror Made Here--just to name a few).

It also seems to figure that the one lesson Hollywood has borrowed from Orlando was to have the line for a soundstage maze go into the soundstage and have no facade. Not the lesson I would have chosen, mind you. That was one of my biggest complaints about Orlando (aside from giagantic lines).

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I've enjoyed the vids I've been seeing of the opening Scaremony this year (though I never really ever get to see it personally, because I take advantage of the early entry, haha). Just curious, does Orlando have an opening Scaremony as well? I've never seen a vid of one, and the one time I went (last year), I did early entry as well, so I would've missed it even if they did have one. But I will say, ours does a great job at getting the crowd hyped that's become a great tradition as the chainsaw chase out at the end of the night (which, does Orlando do that as well? I didn't seem to think so...).

Also to make us feel better here in Hollywood, since I didn't attend last night (going tonight), I was on twitter seeing all the updates from both parks... and while Orlando's mazes seem to be getting pretty great reviews, they're also getting a lot of complaints about poor line management, and 2+ wait time for every single maze. The YouTube channel Expedition Theme Park claimed in Orlando, "Seriously... we got in the line for stranger things at 12.30. We waited 50 minutes for them to tell us the house was closed and we had to leave." :/

I bring it all up because I feel often here in Hollywood, we feel the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. And yes, while many of Orlando's mazes are great, we have our own traditions and great things mentioned above (not to mention the password maze giveaways), as well as a greater sense of community here. As well as a lot of other high quality Haunt options in our own backyard (Knott's, SFMM, Sinister Pointe, ROT, Creep, Dark Harbor, Haunted Hayride, Horror Made Here--just to name a few).

It also seems to figure that the one lesson Hollywood has borrowed from Orlando was to have the line for a soundstage maze go into the soundstage and have no facade. Not the lesson I would have chosen, mind you. That was one of my biggest complaints about Orlando (aside from giagantic lines).

Orlando doesn't have a chainsaw chaseout, but we do have an opening scaremony that really just doesn't do anything. Nobody can see it because the actors are behind park gates.

 

[k_peek_2000]

Some head scratchingly frustrating black wall moments in each maze, but it's def not as bad as years past (last year's especially). Despite not caring for most of the properties either this year was really good.

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

Yeah, I don't think we'll see an end to the tyranny of the black wallz until Hollywood gets a major budget boost, but this year I dont mind them as much

 

[k_peek_2000]

Yeah, I don't think we'll see an end to the tyranny of the black wallz until Hollywood gets a major budget boost, but this year I dont mind them as much

The more money Universal makes during the year, the bigger the budget. Makes me grateful that they're slowly retaking CityWalk and praying we get that 2nd gate lol.

This year also seems to have been slightly Orlando like in terms of the scares. Aiello's input was very apparent. I have a feeling when Murdy leaves he'll just be the creative director of both Orlando and Hollywood and the two HHN's will synergize just like the parks do during the rest of the year.

 

[Freak]

The more money Universal makes during the year, the bigger the budget. Makes me grateful that they're slowly retaking CityWalk and praying we get that 2nd gate lol.

This year also seems to have been slightly Orlando like in terms of the scares. Aiello's input was very apparent. I have a feeling when Murdy leaves he'll just be the creative director of both Orlando and Hollywood and the two HHN's will synergize just like the parks do during the rest of the year.

I would not mind that honestly. We need more Orlando influence. Those black walls really held this back on being a really good year.

 

[Guygas]

The more money Universal makes during the year, the bigger the budget. Makes me grateful that they're slowly retaking CityWalk and praying we get that 2nd gate lol.

This year also seems to have been slightly Orlando like in terms of the scares. Aiello's input was very apparent. I have a feeling when Murdy leaves he'll just be the creative director of both Orlando and Hollywood and the two HHN's will synergize just like the parks do during the rest of the year.

As much as I would love Aiello to be in charge of both coasts I feel like it’d burn him out. He already has to deal with 10 houses and a bunch of scare zones over at Orlando and to throw 7 more houses on him would be overkill. Unless the houses on both coasts are exactly the same, which would make trips to Orlando obsolete which isn’t what they want.

 

[k_peek_2000]

I would not mind that honestly. We need more Orlando influence. Those black walls really held this back on being a really good year.

True, but this would also mean we'd get mostly identical mazes on both coasts so visiting both events would lose its luster and Orlando's quality would take an initial hit from it.

As much as I would love Aiello to be in charge of both coasts I feel like it’d burn him out. He already has to deal with 10 houses and a bunch of scare zones over at Orlando and to throw 7 more houses on him would be overkill. Unless the houses on both coasts are exactly the same, which would make trips to Orlando obsolete which isn’t what they want.

See above comment.

 

[rageofthegods]

True, but this would also mean we'd get mostly identical mazes on both coasts so visiting both events would lose its luster and Orlando's quality would take an initial hit from it.



See above comment.

My honest worry is that maybe Hollywood just won't have the money to do some of Aiello's ideas, so they'll have to cut one way or cut the other. It could be a huge mess.

EDIT: Also, this'll sound petty, but I hate the thought of us each year getting a slightly inferior version of identical mazes from the other coast. I know some people will say that we're already getting that, but at least they try to differentiate them with different scare techniques (like those big screens and the horde effects). I know the black walls are frustrating, but I seriously doubt that Murdy is doing them out of artistic choice, but moreso due to the reality that we don't really have the budget for more. 2016 was only 6 mazes, remember, and that was with a reported budget spike and one house that was half black walls. Plus, remember: unlike them, we don't get regular access to soundstages.

I'll be the first to say that alot of Orlando's houses look really cool, and that some original houses at Hollywood would be a good idea. But I also have to say that Aiello designing houses for both coasts is probably only going to result in compromises that either leaves us stuck with inferior versions of their houses, or their houses getting a downgrade to be more like ours. Neither scenario makes anyone happy.

 

[Freak]

True, but this would also mean we'd get mostly identical mazes on both coasts so visiting both events would lose its luster and Orlando's quality would take an initial hit from it.



See above comment.

I'd lose incentive to travel, but 99% of the crowd isn't going to fly to both coasts. I'll take it over black wallz. lol

 

[Timberfellingrobot]

So after my visit last night, I can definitely say it's an overall solid year for Hollywood. Not as fantastic as 2016 but way better than 2017 if that makes any sense. There were a few hiccups here and there, one of the mazes was flat out laughable and I'm sure anyone who went can figure out which one that is but nonetheless, everything else was great. I just wish there wasn't a lot of THOSE hallways if you know what I mean. Kinda killed the mood or threw off the atmosphere when going through the maze.