Taking a Look at Fall 2015 in Orlando

Today December 1st marks the 70th days of Fall, or the end of 10 weeks. Fall starts on September 23rd and the final day is December 20th. Its no surprise that this fall has been a way above average one in terms of heat for Orlando. I took a look at the average highs and lows from September 23rd-December 1st of every year since I moved here and here are the results


2015: 84.1/68.6
2014: 80.7/63.0
2013: 82.0/66.5
2012: 80.0/63.4
2011: 80.4/63.9  
2010: 81.8/62.7
 
As you can see this year is significantly  warmer than any other year. This coming in the same year in which we had a ridiculous above average spring as well. (April had 24 days above average, November had 26.) March had less days above average (21) but 12 of those 21 days were at least 10 degrees above average. Crazy! I'm ready for some cooler temps but looking at the 15 day forecast December could shape up to be yet another well above average month. Yeesh.

A little nostalgia before the final night

Here is a walkthrough of my very first HHN house ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awpa_gjy9tk

HHN House counts with one night left and final thoughts

One night to go and here are my current house counts
Walking Dead: 12
Purge: 14
Insidious: 18
RUN: 30
Asylum: 25
Body Collectors: 32
Freddy Vs Jason: 26
American Werewolf: 21
Monsters and Mayhem: 24

As recently as just a few days ago I said this was the first year every where there wasn't a single house I didn't end up falling completely in love with. I have now changed my mind. It took way longer than usual but I didn't realize until just a couple nights ago how much I absolutely adore Freddy Vs Jason. It has its flaws (the videos screens are kind of lame, finale is poorly executed) which is why I resisted the idea I loved it so much, but there is so much incredible visual eye candy that it is without a doubt my #1 house this year. Overall this year my final rankings shaped up like this

1. Freddy Vs Jason
2. Body Collectors
3. Monsters and Mayhem
4. Indisious
5. RUN
6. Asylum in Wonderland
7. American Werewolf
8. Walking Dead
9. Purge

Mom's house count
Monsters and Mayhem: 4
American Werewolf: 7
Freddy Vs Jason: 8
Body Collectors: 8
RUN: 9
Insidious: 7
Purge: 7
Walking Dead: 6
Asylum: 8

Top 7 Facades all time

A great facade helps to make a great house. Its the first thing you see and a great facade can amp um your excitement even more before entering your house. One thing that Halloween Horror Nights does light years better than anyone else is facades. One thing that has been very cool to see since I started going to HHN is the evolution of these facades. Just a few years ago the rule of thumb was that the inside soundstage houses would have great facades while the tent and queue houses would have cheap and small facades. One of my top three all time favorite houses, Catacombs in 2010 (Same location as the Purge this year) was an incredible house once you got inside but the facade was.....well.....see for yourself

Not so great. But over the past five years HHN has gotten to the point where the outside facades are just as good, if not even better than the inside facades. Lets dive into my all time top7

7. The Wyandot Estate (2010): This one is sort of a groundbreaking one because it was the first facade ever to basically be the full front of a house. Of course since then Universal has done several of these (two of which we'll see later on in this countdown. This house was in the same location American Werewolf is in this year.

6. La LLorona (2013): In my opinion one of the most severely underrated HHN houses ever, and it had a great facade to boot. This house is in the same location as the Purge this year. Unfortunately a daytime picture doesnt do this facade as just justice as a night picture would but I cant find a decent night picture.

5. Dollhouse of the Damned (2014): My all time favorite HHN house and a facade that perfectly set the tone for the creepiness inside. This house was in the same location as the Purge this year. The little details in this one are amazing.

 4. Halloween (2014): Another top five all time favorite house. The amazing projections and iconic Halloween score make this one of the best all around facades ever. This house was in the same location as Insidious this year.

3. Body Collectors (2015): A beautiful facade with great music, and awesome snow and lightning effects (even though snow and lightning don't go together, i'll let it slide).


2. Winters Night (2011): Another one similar to Body Collectors in that it takes place during a blizzard so it was accompanied with snow effects. This facade however had you entering an old cemetary, and it was a massive and beautiful facade. This house was in the same location as American Werewolf this year

1. Dead End (2012: As we've seen, Universal has done the "house" facade many times (Halloween, Insidious, Wyandot Estate) but no house did it as perfectly as Dead End. Another entry in my top five all time favorite houses, no facade screamed halloween as much as this one. In the same location as Body Collectors this year

HHN 25 interview

Very interesting and informative interview about HHN 25 with Mike Aiello, the creative director of HHN.
http://www.fullecirclemagazine.com/2015/10/unmasking-halloween-horror-nights_19.html?m=1

90 Degree days over?

The last 90 degree day in Orlando was October 1st, over two weeks ago now. As each day goes on without the needle reaching back to 90 degree it becomes increasingly likely we've seen our last 90 degree day until April. If it holds, it would be the second earliest day for the last 90 degree day in the past 15 years. Lets take a look at the past 7 years and when the last 90 degree day was

2014: October 14th
2013: October 21st
2012: October 6th
2011: September 30th
2010: October 28th
2009: October 29th
2008: October 10th

One thing we are still waiting for is the first time the temperature falls below 60 degrees (So far our lowest is 64 degrees.) Here's a look at the first time below 60 the past seven years

2014: October 26th
2013: November 3rd
2012: October 28th
2011: October 20th
2010: October 18th
2009: October 17th
2008: October 27th

The window here is basically between October 17th and November 3rd


Finally the question is when does the high humidity subside for good? A good way to determine when the air has dried out in Orlando is when the nighttime low consistently falls below 66 degrees (Averaging at least seven days out of 10) Here is the day in which that has happened the past seven years.

2014: October 23rd
2013: November 13th
2012: October 28th
2011: October 19th
2010: October 30th
2009: November 4th
2008: October 26th

Basically, summer weather has slowly been subsiding the past couple weeks, and the beginning of perfect weather almost daily is right around the corner.

Ranking All 47 HHN Houses Ive been through

1. Dollhouse of the Damned

2.        Monsters and Mayhem

3.       Catacombs

4    Halloween

5       Dead End

6       Saws N Steam

7     Cabin in the Woods

8       Evil Dead

9       Insidious

10.   House of Horrors

11.   American Werewolf in London

12.   HR Bloodengutz

13.   Hades

14.   Giggles and Gore

15.   Freddy Vs Jason

16.   Body Collectors

17.   Nightingales

18.   Havoc: Dogs of War

19.   Winters Night

20.   La Llorona

21.   Gothic

22.   Legendary Truth

23.   Hallowed Past

24.   Nevermore

25.   Penn and Teller

26.   Inbetween

27.   Alien Vs Predator

28.   RUN

29.   Asylum

30.   Havoc: Derailed

31.   Walking Dead (2014)

32.   Forsaken

33.   Zombiegeddon

34.   Roanoke

35.   From Dusk Till Dawn

36.   Silent Hill

37.   The Thing

38.   The Orfanage

39.   Psychoscareapy

40.   Walking Dead (2013)

41.   Dracula Untold

42.   Walking Dead (2015)

43.   Afterlife

44.   Purge

45.   Walking Dead (2012)

46.   Alice Cooper

47.   Resident Evil