With this being the 25th anniversary of HHN and a very special year, it was inevitable things were going to be hyped differently. Usually one or two houses will leak by July, never earlier, and the whole lineup isn't leaked until around Mid August. To get the whole lineup leaked in April is unprecedented and so much earlier than ever before. But we do have it now, and out suspicions have been confirmed as there will be 9 houses this year, more than ever before. I was originally going to do a write-up of all nine houses in one post, but instead I will write about one house per week each of the next nine Fridays to make the time go by quicker.
1. American Werewolf in London: The most controversial and surprising house on this list. Universal has never before done a house twice, let alone do the same house twice in a 3 year span! many people would be open to a house being repeated, but would prefer it to be a house that happened 5+ years ago, but AWIL was just a house in 2013. The house was so popular however that Universal thought it would be appropriate to bring it back once more. It remains to be determined whether this house will be the exact same as the one in 2013 or if there will be some differences to make it fresh and new. the house in 2013 is considered by many to be one of the top 5 HHN houses of all time, (the official HHN countdown last year that included guest feedback rated it as the second best HHN house of all time) and while I thought it was a great house also, its not in my personal top 5 (I have it at my personal 7th favorite house ever.) The way I look it as is we usually have 8 houses and this year we have 9 so this is basically a bonus house and doesnt hurt anyone to bring it back. Early rumors suggest this house will be located in the first soundstage which would make its entrance right next to Despicable Me. The house that is located here is traditionally the house I end up doing the least amount of times every year because it is the closest house to the entrance of the park and therefore builds up long lines right away that never go down.
One House Down, 8 to go. Next week we will take at look at house number two. One important thing to note is since this leaking of the house lineup is so much earlier than ever before, things can still change. Until construction starts, nothing is 100% permanently set in stone. Even once construction starts things can change, as in 2012 a Chupacabra house was 75% finished before it was scrapped in July! In 2013 an American Horror Story house was slated to happen, but fell through at the last minute and we got Evil Dead instead. And in 2014 a boogeyman house was intended to be built before a From Dusk Till Dawn deal was struck late in the game to replace it. So even though its a pretty good bet the leaked lineup will be what we see in September, it is not a guarantee yet.
