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Halloween Horror Nights 25 Discussion

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My guess for why AWIL is back is that is was the creative team's pick for the 25th anniversary year throwback. At 2 years old, the word throwback is kind of weird but eh. I unfortunately was tied down with other things during that time in 2013 so I only went one night and missed out on AWIL, so I'm personally looking forward to walking through it this year for the first time. But I could understand frustration from those who have seen it and wanted something new.
 
I'm a huge fan of the event and have openly said in years past when the event sucked (HHN22) and have praised them for others. There has been GREAT years, good years, average years and TUUURIBLE years. But as it stands right now I really am digging the line up of this years event. I feel like they offer some great IP's to satisfy Corporate bean counters as well as some great throwbacks for the fans of the event. Its going to be an amazing year at HHN.

Years ago on here as well as other boards such as Nightmares I've openly said some HHN fans are the Pixie Dusters of Universal and in some cases are worse. In the last 30 days, social media as well as forums abroad have proved that. Disney fans waited YEARS for their parks answer to Potter and have really taken a beating. The HHN fans on the other hand are losing their minds because an announcement is a few WEEKS behind... I mean c'mon man can't we all just be excited for HHN 25? Its a freaking month away!!
 
It's hard to explain why exactly, but... back in 2013 when I heard they were doing AWiL. I was like hmm. AWiL is a decent movie. I rewatched it and thought to myself... damn... this is a great werewolf movie. Then we headed down there and went through the house with minimal to semi high expectations (I read some reviews). We were blown away by those wolves and the transformation scene. That house was awesome. It was definitely on my top 5 horror nights house list. So when I heard it would be returning this year I was just so shocked that they would reach back into that well after only a year in between. Why bring it back so soon? Why bring it back at all after nailing it down so well the 1st time? I don't want to go through it this year and enjoy it less than I did the 1st time and have my 1st memory corrupted. What logical reason would they decide to choose a house they just did only 2 years ago when they have so many other options? I don't know. I just think it's a big mistake on their part. I just wanted to share that.
 
It's hard to explain why exactly, but... back in 2013 when I heard they were doing AWiL. I was like hmm. AWiL is a decent movie. I rewatched it and thought to myself... damn... this is a great werewolf movie. Then we headed down there and went through the house with minimal to semi high expectations (I read some reviews). We were blown away by those wolves and the transformation scene. That house was awesome. It was definitely on my top 5 horror nights house list. So when I heard it would be returning this year I was just so shocked that they would reach back into that well after only a year in between. Why bring it back so soon? Why bring it back at all after nailing it down so well the 1st time? I don't want to go through it this year and enjoy it less than I did the 1st time and have my 1st memory corrupted. What logical reason would they decide to choose a house they just did only 2 years ago when they have so many other options? I don't know. I just think it's a big mistake on their part. I just wanted to share that.

As I said a moment ago:

-They likely didn't have the budget to wholly fabricate an entirely new 9th house. You can say Universal should've given A&D a bigger budget, but they worked with what they had.
-Those puppets were expensive, and to order them, A&D probably promised they'd get some mileage out of them for X years.
-Worth noting that apparently the layout won't be exactly the same - there will be tweaks and maybe some upgrades.

Given these circumstances, A&D almost certainly figured - look. We can't build a quality 9th house with the money we have. Let's tweak one of our favorites - and one of our fan favorites. We still have all of the materials. It's a "bonus" house in addition to the new 8 houses we're getting.
 
HHN fans can get over the top (myself included) but it's because we love this event so much and hate to see it go down in quality. I just miss frequent announcements, getting me hyped along the way to the event. I know they're coming soon but still, this antici.........................pation is killing me lol. Also I can't wait to do AWIL again, my favorite house of all time and in my top 5 favorite movies of all time. More of it the merrier lol
 
As I said a moment ago:

-They likely didn't have the budget to wholly fabricate an entirely new 9th house. You can say Universal should've given A&D a bigger budget, but they worked with what they had.
-Those puppets were expensive, and to order them, A&D probably promised they'd get some mileage out of them for X years.
-Worth noting that apparently the layout won't be exactly the same - there will be tweaks and maybe some upgrades.

Given these circumstances, A&D almost certainly figured - look. We can't build a quality 9th house with the money we have. Let's tweak one of our favorites - and one of our fan favorites. We still have all of the materials. It's a "bonus" house in addition to the new 8 houses we're getting.
Yeah... and it's this "tweak" that has me a bit worried. They did such a good job already. Why fix something that isn't broken? I'm honestly unsure what would be worse, a carbon copy of the original, or this tweaked version. I guess we'll find out in a month.
 
I doubt AWIL will be a duplicate. I am betting it will be very similar, but use learnings they had from last time. By that I mean new scare areas, updates to weak scenes, etc. But even if it is an exact copy, still a fun house and a solid 9 hole.
 
Well considering I didn't get to experience AWIL. This should be awesome for me to be able to do that. Last year was actually my first HHN. I loved it and convinced my girlfriend to go again this year. So now we get to see what all the fuss was about with the AWIL house.
 
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As I said a moment ago:

-They likely didn't have the budget to wholly fabricate an entirely new 9th house. You can say Universal should've given A&D a bigger budget, but they worked with what they had.
-Those puppets were expensive, and to order them, A&D probably promised they'd get some mileage out of them for X years.
-Worth noting that apparently the layout won't be exactly the same - there will be tweaks and maybe some upgrades.

Given these circumstances, A&D almost certainly figured - look. We can't build a quality 9th house with the money we have. Let's tweak one of our favorites - and one of our fan favorites. We still have all of the materials. It's a "bonus" house in addition to the new 8 houses we're getting.

I'd be ok if, going forward, the "9th house" each year is a repeat of a fan-favorite from 2 - 3 years before. I recognize the event has financial restraints, this is a good work-around for that. And it's a chance to re-live the past a little, give the new people a taste of what they missed. I'd actually be excited for a "Winter's Night" or "Halloween" in 2016.
 
I feel like they offer some great IP's to satisfy Corporate bean counters as well as some great throwbacks for the fans of the event. Its going to be an amazing year at HHN.

Exactly this ^. Most of the IPs still have a throwback element. You can't compare HHN to the fantasy line-up in your head; compared to actual past events, this is solid.
 
I love when we get so close to HHN!!! start looking back at old pictures and videos!! and its amazing how far we have come!!! though all the great ups and through all the lows we still have something to look forward to on the 25th anniversary!!!...

and man looking back at all of those commercials from the good ole days....no wonder i was hooked on HHN when i lived in FL!! those commercials are awesome!! and i enjoy watching all of those old videos!!! brings back great memories from all the events!!!

Were getting so close guys!!! Either way its almost that time of the season and i hope people can put behind there frustration and still go and enjoy the event!!!
 
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This is the first year that I'm really looking forward to since 2007. It's nice to see so many of the original concepts coming back, a good mix of both it and IP houses.

If having a house return within 2 years of the original bothers you, you would have never liked the event in the first 14 years.
 
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I really don't know how Run will work in the same way that it's beloved from before. I'm very curious about that one.

Considering how long A&D wanted to do AWIL, it's only incidentally 2 years after. If they'd gotten their way, it'd be 4 years after. I will admit that there being a 9th house is probably the only reason I'm not getting a little pissy about there being both AWIL and another Walking Dead house. I bought my flights and tickets back in June knowing there was a gamble. I love the aesthetic, the atmosphere and everything about HHN regardless of the specific properties that are coming.
 
All this, "the 9th house is a bonus" because of money doesn't account for the fact they cut the TENTH house for budgetary reasons.