Major Sweets Candy Factory (HHN 33)

[HHN Maddux]

 

[ghostsarejerks]

Wow I'm dumb, just realized Miss Treats is a play on the word mistreat...

 

[Lucky Planet]

Wow I'm dumb, just realized Miss Treats is a play on the word mistreat...

 

[Clive]

People are freaking out about the house exit setup, but the event used to do this frequently in conjunction with San Francisco zones and it was basically fine.

 

[Wesker69]

I feel like this was violently loosely inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer (again).

I'm referring to the episode "Band Candy" where the adults of Sunnydale eat the candy bars & start acting like adolescents. Woo cursed chocolate!

But I'm sure it's probably just supposed to be an evil gore-filled Willy Wonka. Oh well, at least it's decent.

 

[HHN Maddux]

Just realized, haven't talked about this house yet.

Incredible house, and definitely one of the standouts this year IMO. Surprisingly the most gory house (even more so than Triplets!), while still being a very fun house with good scares. It feels like Carnival Graveyard and Giggles & Gore had a baby.

But of course, the absolute best part: The new layout for F&F. Who knew cutting the queue out of the equation would make such a drastic difference in the house quality? They very much made the right call though, the larger tent works greatly and I'm excited to see more what more they do with it in the future.

 

[GA-MBIT]

It's good. I appreciate that this isn't Wonka. It feels like a local, real-life candy factory with containers of actual food stuffs, packing and shipping materials, offices, etc. Gives it a much more grounded vibe which allows the wackiness of the killer candy to shine more, and for the house to tie back into Sweet Revenge an absolute ton better. It's not my favorite house, but there are some solid visual setpieces and tricks unique to this house, and the performers are definitely hitting their marks real well. Lots of vomit too, which I probably should've expected in hindsight haha. The new tent feels relatively long, and while it isn't the most expansive house in terms of scope, I think that works just fine for the theming they were going for. It's kind of like you're ducking and hiding through different rooms of the dingy facility. That's pretty cool.

Might rise up my rankings with some better runs, but I think the aesthetic just isn't my absolute favorite generally, so who knows.

The Sweets Candy Factory store by Blumhouse is a ton of fun, and I'd love to see more pop-up theming like that across the whole park.

 

[FaceBagman]

My headcanon is that the pizza place in Schittie's Kidz was totally serving some Major Sweets products in that Sinema film's "universe".

Or...the creative team just liked that Sinema scene so much that it evolved into the Sweets zone & house.

Case of chicken or the egg, I guess...

 

[SeventyOne]

Imagine Universal promotes an "Enchanted Unicorn Stable" house. Inside, a scare-actor in the most amazing unicorn costume you've ever seen -- but the stable itself is dull, rotten wood with a couple hay stacks from Michael's and the smell of horse poop piped in. That's Major Sweets.

Loved the costumes, and the cast may be second only to Ghostbusters for enthusiasm, but I wanted a river of chocolate and pastel-colored candy-making minions. I got the same generic industrial sets we've seen a half dozen times before. The dichotomy between those things hurts the house, neither belongs in the other's universe. Also felt a bit on the short side. But best queue this year!

 

[jarodgianoni115]

Damn this is a bummer to hear, I was hoping for chocolate Rivers, giant lollipops and willy wonka vibes

Imagine Universal promotes an "Enchanted Unicorn Stable" house. Inside, a scare-actor in the most amazing unicorn costume you've ever seen -- but the stable itself is dull, rotten wood with a couple hay stacks from Michael's and the smell of horse poop piped in. That's Major Sweets.

Loved the costumes, and the cast may be second only to Ghostbusters for enthusiasm, but I wanted a river of chocolate and pastel-colored candy-making minions. It's got the same generic industrial sets we've seen a half dozen times before. The dichotomy between those things hurts the house, neither belongs in the other's universe. Also felt a bit on the short side. But best queue this year!

 

[Acandrews12]

This was my favorite house of the year. This is exactly what I’ve wanted from a Major Sweets house since his scarezone. It gave you the story when you walked in, so you knew what was happening. The smells, the kills, the effects, it was all great and a lot of fun.

 

[Disneyson1]

Imagine Universal promotes an "Enchanted Unicorn Stable" house. Inside, a scare-actor in the most amazing unicorn costume you've ever seen -- but the stable itself is dull, rotten wood with a couple hay stacks from Michael's and the smell of horse poop piped in. That's Major Sweets.

Loved the costumes, and the cast may be second only to Ghostbusters for enthusiasm, but I wanted a river of chocolate and pastel-colored candy-making minions. I got the same generic industrial sets we've seen a half dozen times before. The dichotomy between those things hurts the house, neither belongs in the other's universe. Also felt a bit on the short side. But best queue this year!

I imagine this was done as a budgeting decision. While there are varying reports of how often props are reused at HHN, I'm sure that at least "gross warehouse" design techniques and treatments are easier to replicate than doing an original treatment of "It's Giving Killer Klowns But We Have No Studio For IP Money".

I'm sure there will be some that say the gritty realism of the house dictated the scenes, but there are ways of showcasing candy-making without running into the issue of candy forests and heavy scenic lift. The closest they get is the

Spoiler: Effect Spoiler

spinning taffy (intestines?) sequence,

.



I feel that a lot of these effects are quite simple in terms of trick conveyor belts and plastic chocolate that spins to create the illusion of waterfalls, and this house could have stood out more if these were included. I also feel this attraction does great work with mirrors, which Horror Nights always executes so well.

Still though, I think the house is rather effective even if you don't see a whole lot of "candy making".

 

[UniversalRBLX]

The house should have taken over Triplet's SS space if they really wanted to do more with the candy factory concept. However, it uses its space well and finally gives the venue proper scenic design.

 

[Disneyson1]

The house should have taken over Triplet's SS space if they really wanted to do more with the candy factory concept. However, it uses its space well and finally gives the venue proper scenic design.

Agreed, kinda confused why the two didn’t switch places (I feel the tight spaces may have suited Triplets well, but you may have lost some of the larger rooms that give the illusion of suburban homes).

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Agreed, kinda confused why the two didn’t switch places (I feel the tight spaces may have suited Triplets well, but you may have lost some of the larger rooms that give the illusion of suburban homes).

I'd imagine there was another concept (IP?) destined for the SS space before Triplets took over.

A lot of moments from Triplets act like show scenes rather than scares, which I think works better for a concept like Major Sweets IMO.

 

[Brian G.]

I'd imagine there was another concept (IP?) destined for the SS space before Triplets took over.

A lot of moments from Triplets act like show scenes rather than scares, which I think works better for a concept like Major Sweets IMO.

No

 

[TheCodeMan95]

No

People really just refuse to believe that Triplets was always planned lol

Our trip is over - this finished at 6th on my list. The new layout for F&F worked much better than I was expecting it to - and there was a lot of fun effects in here. But like others, I would have rather seen this brought to life in a SS.

 

[HHN Maddux]

Honestly shocked there's no 'one last scare' in the brief outside section between leaving the house and entering Blumzone.

 

[RGMick77]

This house is near the top of my list this year. I enjoyed that it’s actually a dank warehouse on the outskirts of town instead of vibrant Wonka world. I thought it was a nice touch that one of the victims is actually the health inspector.

And of course the main goal is to turn the kids into rampaging little murderers so they can kill all the witnesses.

 

[MangoDance]

Really wanted to do this but thought I wouldn't have time, walked past and it went down to 20 minutes, then ended up walking straight into the house as everybody else was busy instagramming photos of the F&F cars. So was my final maze of the day, and the only one that I didn't have to cattle pen queue 45+ minutes for.

It's my type of scare maze, it's not all that scary, has interesting and iconic characters like Major Sweets, and the rooms all tell part of a (albeit simple) story, so by the time you come out you've had a full experience. Some of the prosthetic makeup effects were great, Major Sweets looks like a real childhood movie villain, and the melting face woman with a candy apple stuck in her mouth was another memorable highlight, I hate jump scares so the more visual horror focus of this one won me over.

Would be in my top 3, if I had to be critical - they should have given out some sweets or something at the start/end of the house, as the moment you mention "Candy Factory" to kids they just sort of expect they are leaving with some candy! I popped into the shop opposite to maybe find some, but the only Major Sweets themed stuff wasn't really candy at all, was popcorn and other weirdness.