 Greetings internet dwellers!
Well, after a few weeks of speculation (I dropped hints about this happening about two weeks ago), Universal and HHN made it official. Halloween Horror Nights will be extended two days. November 4th and 5th, have been added to the calendar. The event will open at its normal time, and close at 1AM. As it looks right now, if you have a Frequent Fear Pass, you will be granted entry on the 4th, but not the 5th. If you have a Frequent Fear Pass Plus, you will be granted entry on both the 4th, and the 5th. If I were a betting man, normal Frequent Fear Pass people, may want to hold off on whining, as I would not be surprised if the open to those as well for the 5th. It will probably be based on sales for that day, so who knows. You know what else is hilarious? I waited to post anything about dates being extended, until confirmed by Universal. Other sites, jumped on it, which causes confusion. Yet, Universal allows these places to get away with with murder. And they aren't afraid to keep giving these places everything under the sun. These sites constantly bite the hand that feeds them, yet Universal is so desperate to feel hip and connected, they don't care. Sad.  Greetings internet dwellers! Well, we are briskly marching towards the conclusion to HHN XXVI. Sad face, I know. It has been an interesting event so far. I would describe it as a bit uneven, but fun. The crowd situation has been interesting. This has been the first time in a long time, you can actually plot the flow of traffic, and beat it. Anyway, we will get to all my thoughts wrapped up in a bow, at the end of the event. For now, time to update my house rankings. HOUSE RANKING UPDATEThere has been a slight shake-up in my rankings. A few of the houses, have lost a bit of steam for me, and others, have amped it up. 9. LUNATIC'S PLAYGROUND 3D
8. KRAMPUS
7. AMERICAN HORROR STORY
6. TOMB OF THE ANCIENTS
5. THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE
4. THE WALKING DEAD
3. THE EXORCIST
2. HALLOWEEN: HELL COMES TO HADDONFIELD
1. GHOST TOWN: THE CURSE OF LIGHTNING GULTCH
 CURRENT SCARE ZONE RANKINGS5. A CHANCE IN HELLCURRENT RATING: 1/5 Not much can be said, that I already haven't said. Moving on. 4. DEAD MAN'S WARFCURRENT RATING: 3/5 Still a very pretty Scare Zone. However, the bottleneck created by the mobs of people, hurt it. A lot. 3. LAIR OF THE BANSHEES (OR WHATEVER IT IS THEY ARE CALLING IT THESE DAYS)CURRENT RATING: 3/5 Like Dead Man's Warf, Banshee is hurt by the crowds. However, I have noticed an uptick in the intensity by the actor's. 2. SURVIVE OR DIECURRENT RATING: 3/5 Actually found myself mulling about in here, more so than in the past. Some of the actor's have tried harder to startle you. 1. VAMP 1955CURRENT RATING: 3.5/5 Arguably the most "fun" Scare Zone. Still, not a big fan of all the Zones as a whole.  PARTING WORDSSo that's it for me this week. I will return to HHN next Thursday. I will also be at for the 30th and 31st, of which I will be staying on site. Can't wait for that.
Until next time, folks.  Greetings internet dwellers! Well, it's no secret that Florida had some tropical trouble last week. Hurricane Matthew was threatening to stop by, as a category 4 storm. As we all know, the theme parks, including HHN, was shut down for 2 days. Thus, I was not able to attend the event at all last week. It was actually a nice break. Two days a week, is a lot for me these days. I don't know how some people can go every single day, for a month. Having a break, allows for my mind to reset every week. So, I had an extra break this time. It actually felt like I was going back to the event, for the first time. HURRICANE WEIRDNESSWith the approach of Matthew, Universal took some preemptive measures. I'm sure you all have seen the photos, of things being taken down. The Chance Scare Zone banner, and a whole horde of other things, were taken down. When the event resumed last Saturday, some of those things that were taken down, had not yet been put back. Furthermore, in the Chance Scare Zone, lighting had not yet returned. When I attended Wednesday, there was still things that were missing. The Chance Scare Zone banner, had still not yet been put back, and lighting was still not put back either. The tunnels over in Survive or Die, had also been taken away. They were still missing. A row of food tents across from Fallon, were also gone. Thursday and Friday, the Chance Scare Zone banner, had returned, and some lighting in the Zone, had also been redone. Still missing, were the Survive or Die tunnels, and those food tents. Given that the tunnels had not worked the way they wanted them to work in the first place, I would not be surprised if they don't return at all. On Wednesday, every house that we entered, seemed really off. Timing, scares, and pacing, just wasn't there. I have heard some rumors, about a handful of Scareactor's quitting, sometime after the hurricane. I can't confirm this, but it's just an observation.  CURRENT HOUSE RANKINGSDespite the oddity of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were really solid nights. Despite this being "Hell Week", it wasn't that busy at all either. Friday, was especially dead. House wait times hovered around 25 minutes, to 80 minutes. Even American Horror Story dropped to 80, after the initial opening. 9. LUNATIC'S PLAYGROUND 3D
8. KRAMPUS
7. AMERICAN HORROR STORY
6. TOMB OF THE ANCIENTS
5. THE WALKING DEAD
4. THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE
3. THE EXORCIST
2. HALLOWEEN: HELL COMES TO HADDONFIELD
1. GHOST TOWN: THE CURSE OF LIGHTNING GULTCH
 CURRENT SCARE ZONE RANKINGSI've made my views on the Scare Zones quite clear before. However, I am going to just come out and say it now: the Scare Zones suck this year. They are bad. Bad, may be a bit of a strong term. Let's call them, weak. Very, very weak. 5. A CHANCE IN HELLCURRENT RATING: 1/5 A gigantic waste of space. 4. DEAD MAN'S WARFCURRENT RATING: 2.5/5 Yes, it's pretty. However, the actor's have resorted to once again, just lumbering around doing nothing. 3. LAIR OF THE BANSHEES (OR WHATEVER IT IS THEY ARE CALLING IT THESE DAYS)CURRENT RATING: 3/5 Great atmosphere, but nothing much else. 2. SURVIVE OR DIECURRENT RATING: 3.5/5 Fun, but still pales in comparison to other Zones in New York in the past. They added a motorcycle in here as well. 1. VAMP 1955CURRENT RATING: 3.5/5 At least, people actually attempt to do things in this Zone. Still, saying this is the best Scare Zone, isn't saying much at all. BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT HALLOWEEN ADVENTURE Oh, my. How to even describe just how awful the show is this year? Stale. Unfunny, missed opportunity, and sad. This is supposed to be the 25th anniversary. Why didn't this feel like a 25th anniversary show? That is not the problem though. The show just isn't funny. Everything is forced, and none of the jokes land. The show's biggest sin though, is it's boring. There is no flow to anything here. And it just makes the entire thing drag on. The new Ted isn't the problem, which I hear the die-hards say to try and justify the show's awfulness. No, it's the writers. The show needs some new-blood moving forward. We get it, Universal likes to take jabs at Disney. However, there is no need to repeat a joke, that is now 3 years old. Fan service for the die-hards, shouldn't be a thing. They ruin the show as it is. There isn't much more to say. See Academy of Villains instead. FINAL RATING: 1/5  UNTIL NEXT WEEKSo that does it for me this week. I will once again, return next Thursday. Hard to believe we are rolling to the finish line at this point. However, a wise man once said: "It aint over till it's over."
 Greetings internet dwellers! Well, my third week of HHN, has come to a close. I will return to the event next Thursday. That is, if there isn't a giant hurricane over Florida. So, some interesting things happened over the course of the last few days. Let's talk. CHANGESYes, even in their third week, HHN is still making changes. For starters, the music around the park seems to still be tinkered with. At least, the audio itself. The Chance interruptions are a little more frequent again. And you can hear them all over the park, more than the first weekend. The music around the park, outside of the main Scare Zones, has pretty much settled into just remixes. The Exorcist, Halloween, The Walking Dead, and American Horror Story, pretty much dominate the soundtrack. But they are in a slightly remixed form. They continue to add things to the houses as well. More Michael's in Halloween, some added scenic to The Walking Dead, and Krampus, keeps adding things too. I also noticed some of the houses have turned up the lighting a bit.  BAD BUSINESSWhile I will talk Scare Zones a little later, we had something happen to us on Thursday, which I find unacceptable. Over in Dead Man's Warf, I was with a friend of mine, off to the side of the Scare Zone taking photos. After about 10 minutes or so, we were approached by one of the coordinator's who told us to leave the Scare Zone, to "keep the crowd moving." This, should never happen in a Scare Zone. Especially with us being off to the side. There is no reason you should be telling people to move on, because it's a "small Scare Zone," and the crowd needs to keep moving. You know what that is? A design flaw. Don't make your Scare Zones so small, that people can't walk through them comfortably. And both of us, weren't even standing in the flow of traffic. We were off to the side. This is yet another example, of some of the boneheaded, questionable practices, Universal is doing over the course of this event.  THE REPOSITORYAh, yes, The Repository. Right off the bat, let's talk the monkey in the room. Ever since this thing was announced, the $50 dollar price tag has been a bit controversial. A lot of people, couldn't stomach paying the extra money, after already spending so much to just get into the event. I had budgeted this year, for a UTH. At the time, I couldn't afford both and would be skipping the experience. However, after Universal's photo ban on the UTH last week, I decided to skip the tour, and spring for The Repository. From the very beginning, I said that the Legendary Truth angle, was there to basically entice the long-time players, to fork over the money to do the experience. There were a lot of questions about just how much Legendary Truth, would be a part of the experience. Well, the entire thing is Legendary Truth. So, there's that. Without spoiling too much, the experience starts out, as you are placed in a lounge, with the rest of your party, which have booked for that time slot. You all enter the first room, before being separated into groups of four. Eventually, you are separated into groups of 2, before being reunited with the two other people in your group of four. The groups of four, are separated by different colors. I only saw red, green, and yellow. I was in the red group.
To put it bluntly, this experience, is not worth the $50 dollar price tag. Paying the hefty price, is going to depend on you. If you aren't a player of Legendary Truth, some of what's going on, may leave you a little miffed as well. The two other players (yes, we only had 3 in our group instead of 4), we very confused on certain things. A lot of the experience just drops you into rooms, kind of awkwardly. The other thing I have a big problem with, is the selling of this experience. It's being sold as a VR experience. Well, 99.9% of The Repository, isn't a VR experience. One tiny portion of it is. The vast majority of the experience, is part escape room, part "extreme house." Which brings me to what I did like. I love the personal interactions with the Scareactor's in here. Yes, you do have to sign a waiver before going in. If you don't like to be touched, or have your personal space invaded, this is not the experience for you. I was yelled at, had my beard stroked, held hands with a crazy person, and cursed at. Fuck and shit, were said. More shits than fucks, but still very cool nonetheless. Now back to the bad. The VR is an obvious downgrade in quality, from the VR done at last year's Legendary Truth experience. And, my audio wasn't working AT ALL during the VR portion. Which if I am paying $50 dollars, the equipment better be working. The Repository is short. Very, very short. We waited longer in the lounge, than we did doing the actual experience. All in all, the experience lasted about 15 minutes. Trying to justify that price, with the short time, just didn't seem worth it. There is a very abrupt end to the experience. In the final room, once again, we were met with faulty technology. Once we "failed to break the curse" of The Repository, because of said faulty technology, we were just ushered out into the daylight, and given a sticker. That's pretty much it. I made it a point to listen to people coming out of the experience. The vast majority of the people, were obviously disappointed. One group, was handed the sticker, and promptly exclaimed: "That's it?" There is also an opportunity to have your picture taken. However, you have to pay for said picture, and they wouldn't allow you to use your camera. I got to talk briefly with T.J. Mannarino, who came to the exit of the experience. I told him about my no audio problem during the VR part. I was met with a very blase response about how they were aware of the problem. This, I have an issue with. The Repository, is a culmination of pretty much every Legendary Truth and Horror Unearthed experience, from the past four years. They are basically taking elements, from different experiences players were put through. The last two years, were "tests" of technology for the game-play (including last year's VR). If the technology didn't work, that was cool. You just move on and be done with it. However, you are now charging people. We aren't "testing" the technology anymore. This is a full fledged experience, which costs people money. If the main portion of the experience isn't working properly, fix it. You can't just shrug it off this time, and go back to the drawing board. In the end, The Repository is a mixed bag. I enjoyed the character elements, but the technological portion, just didn't work properly. And the experience is just too damn short. FINAL RATING: 2.5/5  HOUSE RANKING UPDATELet's finally talk houses! I'll make this really short. 9. LUNATIC'S PLAYGROUND 3D
8. KRAMPUS
7. THE WALKING DEAD
6. AMERICAN HORROR STORY
5. THE EXORCIST
4. THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE
3. TOMB OF THE ANCIENTS
2. GHOST TOWN: THE CURSE OF LIGHTNING GULTCH
1. HALLOWEEN: HELL COMES TO HADDONFIELD
 SCARE ZONESActually had some good times in the Zones this week. 5. A CHANCE IN HELLCURRENT RATING: 1/5 A stupid waste of space. 4. DEAD MAN'S WARFCURRENT RATING: 3/5 Mentioned it briefly above. Yes, there is a horrible bottleneck that happens in here. And because of that, the actor's have retreated to the lumbering, won't scare you method. 3. SURVIVE OR DIECURRENT RATING: 3/5 Meh. It's fun, but still falls short of other Zones in NY in the past. 2. BANSHEES LAIR (OR WHATEVER THEY ARE CALLING IT THESE DAYS)CURRENT RATING: 3.5/5 The crowd causes a problem here too. However, I did notice an uptick in energy in here. It was actually fun to hang out in here regardless of the crowd. 1. VAMP 1955CURRENT RATING: 4/5 Finally. Had some really good times in here on Thursday and Friday. Lots of interactions, lots of energy, and a lot of fun. PARTING THOUGHTSSo, that is it for me until next week. The houses still remain really strong, for the most part. Actually had some good times in the Scare Zones, minus the Dead Man's Warf thing.
Until next time, internet! |
TOPHER PICCOLOHHN LEGACY OWNER Archives
July 2023
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