HHN House #2

Last week we talked about the first HHN house in this years 2015 lineup, An American Werewolf in London, and since that post there has been a little bit of controversy surrounding the legitimacy of the leaked HHN house lineup. According to a few people "in the know" Universal intentionally leaked a false house lineup and all the houses that have been leaked are not actually happening. A few others in the know say that is not true and that the leaked lineup is 100% Accurate. And a few say the leaked lineup is a mix of false houses and accurate houses. It would make a little sense for it to be false because some houses, such as the return of American Werewolf in London, seem questionable. However, my personal opinion is that Universal is just embarrassed the houses leaked so early and is trying to save face by making it seem like false info and I believe the lineup is more or less accurate. So today we continue to house Number Two

The Walking Dead

This will be the 4th year for the Walking Dead at Halloween Horror Nights and many people are sick of it. There are two groups of people that go to HHN. There are the first group like me, who talk about HHN year round, count down the days, and go 10+ nights a year when it comes around. That group HATES the Walking Dead at HHN. Group two is the group that doesnt even give a passing thought to HHN until October rolls around, goes for one night, then doesnt give a passing thought about it until the next year. Group two LOVES Walking Dead at HHN. The Walking Dead is a show I enjoy, alot. Its a great show, but it is not a show that lends itself well to a haunted house. It's not a "horror" show, its a drama, and trying to make it a haunted house has failed 3 straight years, so why would a 4th be any better? One thing is for sure though, group two will flock to this house like bees to honey, it will draw 3+ hours long lines every night, the big suits who only care about money will deem it a success no matter how much the house sucks, and Walking Dead will return in 2015 for a 5th year, the cycle repeats again. The Walking Dead is going to be in the parade building this year behind ET, which will allow them to use the ET queue line for the house on super busy nights. The parade building house has the most potential space for a line so it makes sense to put the house that will draw the longest lines there.

Next week we will talk about house number three.

HHN 25 House Lineup revealed

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.

HHN 25 dates announced!!!!

Today Universal Orlando dropped the dates for Halloween Horror Nights and I got all giddy! All in all HHN 25 will run for an unprecedented 30 nights!!! This is up from last years 28 nights, which was a record as well. All in all, the dates have now increased from 25 in 2012, to 27 in 2013, to 28 in 2014, and now we are up to 30. Opening night is September 18th, which is now just 197 days away! Where are the two extra days coming from? Well there will be one extra Wednesday from last year, so instead of three Wednesdays, there will be four. Universal also tacked on a night to the end of the event, as it will run through Sunday November 1st, instead of ending on Halloween night. Now that we have dates we are just two months away from the beginning of the houses beginning construction, four months away from official house announcements, and 5.5 months away from lights and props going up around the park as well as rehearsals. We are getting closer every day!

Join the club...

Just another person echoing the sentiments of so many others over the past 5 years or so. Think Disney will ever wake up?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christy-heitgerewing/for-the-first-time-in-forever-i-did-not-enjoy-disney-world_b_6261760.html

Weekly Theme Park Roundup

New news in the theme park world is very sparse this week, but we'll try to make do with what we have in this Thanksgiving edition of theme park round up.

Universal Orlando announced today that Mardi gras will take place on Saturday Nights and select Friday and Sunday nights from February 9th-April 18th 2015. No bands have yet to be announced for Mardi Gras, that news likely won't come until the calendar has flipped to January.

Possibly the biggest thing that was kept an eye on this week, and will be the biggest thing into the future is the rapid speed at which King Kong construction is progressing. Just two weeks ago it was nothing but rubble and now he have a building taking shape. Universal does not mess around when building new rides. Of course, this ride is still unannounced, but there hasn't been a single reliable source that hasn't said this will be a King Kong ride so it seems safe to assume. Actually, I can't recall another time in which there was a 100% consensus on what was being built before the announcement. When Transformers was being built some sources were trying to argue it was a Fast and Furious ride among others, and when Diagon Alley was being built, there was a number of different speculations as to what it could go. But with this everyone is in agreement this is a King Kong ride. What people cant agree on is when it will open. Some say Christmas 2015, some say Summer 2016. Anyway, here a couple pictures.

And this one is to get perspective as to where in the park this ride will be located

That should just about do it for this week. Happy Thanksgiving! 305 Days until HHN 25

Top 20 Nostalgia Songs

As you know, I love counting down some of my favorite things. As I was listening to some older songs today, I was thinking of which songs from my middle and early high school years make me feel the most nostalgic. I decided to think of all the songs and rank them, not necessarily in order of how much I like them, but in order of the memories they bring and how much of an impact those songs left on me and how much I remember them from that time. This was the time in my life when I was initially beginning to enjoy listening to music, buying CDs, in the magical days of portable CD players. This list is specifically songs from the five year period from 2003-2007. Here we go

20. It Ends Tonight - All American Rejects
19. The Reason - Hoobastank
18. Vertigo - U2
17. Holiday - Green Day
16. Beverly Hills - Weezer
15. Meant to Live - Switchfoot
14. American Idiot- Green Day
13. I don't Wanna Be - Gavin DeGraw
12. Over my Head - The Fray
11. Apologize - One Republic
10. Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson
9. Here Without you - 3 Doors Down
8. Clocks - Coldplay
7. Mr. Brightside - The Killers
6.  Dirty Little Secret - All American Rejects
5. She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5
4. Sugar, We're Going Down - Fall Out Boy
3. 1985 - Bowling For Soup
2. Ocean Avenue - Yellowcard
1. Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day (What else?)

Weekly Theme Park Round up

Thanksgiving is coming up fast, how in the world is November more than halfway over already? heres a few tidbits of news

The good people behind Halloween Horror Nights have sent out e-mail surveys to everybody they have in their e-mail list AKA anyone who bought a frequent fear ticket this year AKA me. The survey was to get a feeling of what fans would really like to see at the event next year. Judging by the survey some of the ideas being thrown around for potential houses next year include:

American Horror Story
Nightmare on Elm Street
Alfred Hitchcock movies
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Silence of the Lambs

And

Walking Dead for a fourth year (Please god no)

and others who are less likely or less worthy of mention

Also thrown around was the potential for the return of the festival of the dead parade, which hasnt been around since 2006, and the return of all the icons, not just Jack, which includes the Director, Caretaker, storyteller, and Usher.

My personal opinion? I see no way a parade could work its way through the super congested streets of HHN anymore, so thats more of a pipe dream than anything. I expect all the icons, not just Jack will in fact return, the question is in what capacity? will they all be together in one collaborative house (very likely), each get their own house (Very unlikely), or only be included in the scare zones? (Mildly likely.) Of all the above properties mentioned if I had to venture a guess as to which ones we see next year American Horror Story and Nightmare on Elm Street would be my top guesses. Silence of the Lambs and Hitchcock seem pretty unlikely to me and TCM is possible, but time will tell. I also unfortunately do expect the Walking Dead to return for a fourth year. It has increased attendance and revenue so much at HHN it would be a bad business decision not to bring it back, as much as I dont want it. \

Thats it for this week, 312 days until HHN 25