Scarezones: What to do with them?

[shiekra38]

(preface: please delete or move if this is off base)

So after attending this year's HHN and both HOS's I noticed a drastic change at HHN.

The houses were fantastic as always, but the zones seemed like some of the worst that I've ever seen at the event.

I DON'T think it was the actors at all..As a matter of fact several of the zones had a ton of energy.

I think the major issue is the event has gotten so large that it makes it tough to do zones the way they used to or how they have been.

Ok great ShieKra, are you just going to complain all night or invite us into the discussion?

My question is this.

What would you do with scare zones moving forward at Horror Nights?

"Nothing" is totally an acceptable answer, but after this year I was kind of left thinking they need some change.

I have some ideas, but I would value hearing everyone's ideas first

 

[ssirin88]

Move some of them. Central Park is too tight to have actors moving about freely. Same can be said with San Fran.

 

[shiekra38]

Move some of them. Central Park is too tight to have actors moving about freely. Same can be said with San Fran.

Having Killer Klowns in front of Transformers was really interesting, but I know they can't now because of the fountain show

Otherwise I'm not entirely sure where you'd put them...the back of the park is even tighter than San Fran and Central Park

 

[Magic Feather]

I'd have two categories of scare zone.

The first would be effectively what we have now: main pathway areas where, while some scareactors are able to get in some scares, they are more atmosphere/entertainment focused. Then, in slightly smaller, areas that are off of main paths, you'd have slightly more scare focused zones that are halfway between a house and a zone.

Probably something along the lines of Plaza of the Stars, Hollywood, NY (Specifically the parade Route area in front of Mummy) and San Fran for the first type, and then KidZone, The Road between Transformers and New York, The Road Between Transformers and Shrek, the London Waterfront (the pathway along the water specifically) and maybe another path in the FF/MiB/Springfield area for the latter.

 

[shiekra38]

I'd have two categories of scare zone.

The first would be effectively what we have now: main pathway areas where, while some scareactors are able to get in some scares, they are more atmosphere/entertainment focused. Then, in slightly smaller, areas that are off of main paths, you'd have slightly more scare focused zones that are halfway between a house and a zone.

Probably something along the lines of Plaza of the Stars, Hollywood, NY (Specifically the parade Route area in front of Mummy) and San Fran for the first type, and then KidZone, The Road between Transformers and New York, The Road Between Transformers and Shrek, the London Waterfront (the pathway along the water specifically) and maybe another path in the FF/MiB/Springfield area for the latter.

oooh I like that idea. So more roaming horde type stuff towards the back and in front of Transformers?

 

[UniversalRBLX]

There's a couple of things I would do:
- Have the HHN truss from the 30 Fears Zone show up every year closer to the front gate, make that the "photo op" place. Use it for opening scaremonies.
- Stop putting random stages at the center of the San Francisco zone. I don't understand why they insist on putting obstacles in the middle of that zone. They also could just as easily spread the zone throughout the entirety of San Francisco and not just that small central part.
- Central Park: move props behind the fence to leave the walkway open

The Killer Klowns scare zone area might make a comeback if Marathon of Mayhem doesn't come back. I think they have realized that you do need a good lineup of IPs to make the show worthwhile.

 

[WAJAS]

Honeslty, I think the event is so crowded now that the places where you'd do a good scarezone no longer work, so I don't think there is a whole lot you could improve on.

A more limited scare zone that's like a low-budget house could work, but it couldn't be on the main path.

 

[shiekra38]

Honeslty, I think the event is so crowded now that the places where you'd do a good scarezone no longer work, so I don't think there is a whole lot you could improve on.

A more limited scare zone that's like a low-budget house could work, but it couldn't be on the main path.

I remember back in 06 (?) they used the NY alleys for the Deadtropolis zone...at least, zombies were in the alley

I thought it worked out well and got some good scares

At some point though I feel like the area would have too many people and start to form an unnecessary queue lol

 

[kingcooger]

Oddly, 2018 really demonstrated how to tweak the zones in a positive way. While small, the Killer Klowns zone did not create the bottleneck issue that often plagues the San Fran area and managed to use the small space to be effective.

Twisted Traditions expanded out the Central Park footprint in a way that gave that zone some much needed breathing room. Watching the actors take up all the space by Mel's really showed what can happen when you mix the ambiance of the CP zone with some room for actor improvisation/play.

The lagoon show, which I like, basically forced us to reset these zones to what they were before.

 

[Darko]

Am I about to resurrect this year old thread? Yes I am.

I feel like as much as I love Central Park's atmosphere and everything, I'm starting to think they either, as someone else said, move the props behind the fences so that the pathway is clear and less obstructed, or they just need to axe this scarezone entirely. No I have no idea whether it would be best to move the location of the zone or just remove it entirely and have 4 zones like in 24. Honestly I'd hate to be the ones at A&D that have to figure it out, 'cause that has to be a nightmare. I feel like they are making it work as best they can. But they really have to do something. That area gets honestly worse to me than San Francisco. SF felt like a crowd flow improvement this year but still at times could be a bit crowded. But CP is still a nightmare.

I don't even know at this point if there even is a solution. The event has gotten just too big at this point maybe for there to be a workaround.