Universal Orlando Resort offered an “Exclusive Passholder Q&A Event” for its Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) 2018. APs could RSVP for one of three nights, Friday through Sunday, Sept. 28-30. These are my notes from the hourlong treat inside the Pantages Theater (where Universal Orlando’s Horror Make-Up Show is staged) at Universal Studios Florida.
While the Q&A was free once I reserved a seat via the website, I still had to have a valid HHN ticket to enter. I opted for the Frequent Fear pass this year, but Universal offers many types of tickets.
I reserved a seat for the final date offered, 5 to 6 p.m. Sept. 30, after learning of it through the UOAP monthly passholder newsletter and checking frequently on its website. (I signed up Aug. 30, a month ahead of time.) Although other APs later said the dates were full and they could not RSVP, dozens of seats remained empty in the theater when I attended. What a shame to miss out on this free event, and what a treat for those of us who attended!
INAUGURAL EVENT
One of the organizers (I was on the other side of the theater and did not catch a name) asked everyone to put away cameras and cellphones before the session began: no recording devices. I took the chance that my pen-and-paper method would be OK, and I would not be sharing this if I’d not received permission (from organizer Nick, though I did not ask his last name).
The reason for no recording? They wanted to keep the sessions unique and special for the APs who attended. While they likely ran the same behind-the-scenes video at the start of each night’s Q&A, the organizers did not moderate the questions or censor anyone.
The presenters said at the outset they could not answer questions about money, or about what plans they have for next year’s HHN. Time ran out before anyone got around to asking about the outstanding Academy of Villians dance troupe, as the presenters were all architects of the scare zones and houses.
If you missed out, make sure to go to guest services or mention it if you take one of their exit polls, so Universal knows we want to do this sort of thing again next year. (My goal, of course, is to make you envy anyone who got to attend a Q&A session and inspire you to march straight in to guest services to demand more. That way, I can compete with you all to RSVP for it next HHN.)
The session started with the same behind-the-scenes video that can be seen on screens in some queues during HHN, with footage of past years and interviews with everyone from Executive Director Michael Aiello to individual scarectors talking about their scare strategies. It’s probably available online somewhere on the universal site, but I’m not skilled anough to find it or link to it. I’ve noticed videos playing in a fairly quiet area in the queue for the E.T. ride — this year, it’s the entrance for the general queue for the “Trick ‘r’ Treat” house, and the exit for that house as well as the Seeds of Extinction house, if you wanted to hang out and watch various HHN-related videos instead of walking the houses and zones.
Three HHN designers took the stage: Blake Braswell, Nick Collins and Dylan Kolof (described by the other two as their archivist of all things HHN). I’ll use their first names throughout, as that’s what’s on their nametags.
One last mention of jargon used in this post: Universal does two types of houses, original concepts and those based on intellectual properties (IP). While it might make sense to use the two-letter abbreviation OC for the originals, I mostly heard staffers call them “original,” so that’s what I’ll use.
A SHOW IN ITSELF
The trio of presenters were well chosen: knowledgeable, well-spoken and funny, with obvious respect and friendship between them.
I don’t know shorthand, so I did not record all questions or their full answers. When I could remember a quote verbatim long enough to write it down, I’ll put it in quotation marks. (This does not mean I got it right: the presenters might well have said something else and I misheard them. Or I can’t read my own poor handwriting as I transcribe my notes. Or my slightly wonky keyboard spit out some typos I did not catch.) If you were there and asked a question I have not mentioned, my apologies.
If you attended a session and want to add your own notes, please do!
As I bought a six-house Behind-the-Screams: Unmasking the Horror Tour on a prior weekend, I might add in some details from that, where relevant. (You get a ton of information about HHN and the specific houses you tour, a special lanyard, and may take photos in designated spots inside the day-lit structures. Well worth it, even if I didn’t get to tour my favorite house for this year, Slaughter Sinema — designed by Nick Collins, as I learned at the Q&A.)
Universal’s parks in the United States, Japan and Singapore all do Halloween Horror Nights, each with their own design team. From the Unmasking tour, I learned there are only five people responsible for dressing the sets of all the houses each year, creating the spooky ambiance for each theme and adding in delightful in-jokes and references to past HHNs that only the sharpest eyes (or those who buy the daylight tours) will spot. I do not know how large the teams are for costume design or makeup.
Blake said the concept meetings are the most fun, for him. This prompted a question about whether the parks collaborate on their HHN plans each year.
Nick replied the California team is “fairly autonomous” to Florida.
Dylan said the size and location of the houses affect design the most, so Hollywood and Orlando differ because their buildings differ.
How hard it is to get IP rights?
Blake said rights to partnerships will vary wildly from year to year. The IP process was different for the 2017 “Trick ‘r’ Treat” scare zone than it was for this year’s “T ‘r T” house.
Nick said even rights to actor likenesses can be tough, mentioning “The Walking Dead” among other IPs.
During the Unmasking tour of this year’s “Stranger Things” season 1 house, I learned the show’s producers wanted such authenticity in the scareactors that the casting process took longer than usual. Many of the boys’ roles only got one actor approved. Because each house tends to have two full casts, working 45 minutes on, 45 off, this means you won’t see all the boys pop up in scenes during one walkthrough — you’d have to time it carefully to see all the scareactors. There are more than one actor cast for the sheriff, Joyce and Eleven, as I recall, and their resemblance to the show’s characters is remarkable.
“I think the ‘no’ list gets smaller and smaller the more that we do it,” Blake said, about negotiating the rights for IP houses.
How far out do you plan for the IPs?
On this Sept. 30, 2018, date, Nick said they’re already a week in to planning for 2019.
What’s your dream project?
For Blake, it would be Ridley Scott’s “Alien” films. this got much applause from the audience.
Dylan said he’s happy with “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” as a scare zone this year. (It’s the smallest zone, in a new spot for a scare zone this year: the choke point between the buildingd and lagoon across from the entrance to the Transformers ride. It seems well recieved by crowds, and anyone deathly afraid of clowns can detour through the vampires or the rotting pumpkins to get past.)
Nick said, “I, personally, like the Rob Zombie aesthetic.”
What changed the most this year, from plan to house?
Nick said two mazes (another term for the haunted houses) that were drawn up didn’t make it past the design stage this year.
Dylan said he was surprised by how the concept for Slaughter Sinema changed from when he was involved in the initial design to when he saw the final house, having been tasked with other projects during production. He and Blake credited Nick for the house and all the drive-in, B-movie trailers.
“We just wrote down names of movies we thought would be terrible,” Nick replied. “One of them was called, ‘Detroit!’”
Nick then asked whether anyone in the audience was from Detroit, to a smattering of applause. (I asked in the HHN store whether I could get copies of all the Slaughter Sinema movie posters — no, but I could get one, maybe ‘Midnight Snack 2: The HouseSwarming,’ on a custom-printed T-shirt. I’m still deciding whether to do that and try to frame it.)
Returning to the original question, Blake said the reality of the “Killer Klowns” zone was affected by the new location.
“I think, for me,” he said, “that changed the most” from the conceptual designs.
Responding to a question about what houses they plan first, Nick said because the IPs can take more time for contractual negotiations, the designers will often start on the original-concept houses first.
Can we get a movie to pay homage to some of the classic HHN icons, such as Jack, the Caretaker or the Director?
Blake thought that would be great, but filmmaking is not under the auspices of his team.
Where are all the props kept?
Dylan said they have much of it kept in the prop house on site, althhough they can’t keep the large set pieces from year to year. He said a favorite of his is a lovely statue of a woman that apppeared in the 2006 ScreamHouse: Resurrection has popped up annually. This year, it’s in Seeds of Extinction.
Blake said the baby theme some have noted in Hollywood and Orlando this year was unintentional.
A woman asked something about a scene where Santa Claus is being devoured. I did not catch the initial question, but it led to a discussion of how the designers make choices for the scare themes.
Nick said, “People can’t be scared and mad (angry) in the same brain at the same time. ... It’s just really hard to keep somebody in the (mental scare) zone if they’re mad about something” such as a half-eaten Santa, or violence done to children. Therefore, the design team tends to avoid these topics.
About how they plan the designs, Nick said, “Our process is very organic. ... sometimes you don’t know it until you see it,” so they will modify zones and houses on the fly to improve them. (One improvement I noted during my September walkthroughs of the Dead Exposure: Patient Zero house is the addition of puppets in an early scene. Perhaps they were planned all along, but I did not encounter them thhe first weekend and was not too impressed with that house. I was pleasantly, and literally, surprised by the addition when I visited again in late September. I keep going back to try to prove my theory that Patient Zero is, in fact, a French mime.)
Replying to a question about the software they use, Dylan said he, Nick, Manuel Cordero and David Hughes (I might not have the spelling, or even the names, correct on these two designers, sorry) use SketchUp (the software is available for free, according to a quick search) to design the houses.
“The SketchUp model is my favorite part of the entire process,” Dylan said, and he uses 3-D glasses with the program to view his final models.
Nick said the tilted floor of 2017’s dead watrs house would not have been the same without computer modeling.
Has Universal done any surveys to plan for a “viewers’ choice” house?
Blake encouraged everyone to participate in the surveys sent out by Universal.
I’m not sure what the question was, but Nick talked about how “The Shining,” “The Exorcist” and “Poltergeist” IPs might not have worked a few years ago: “What makes a great movie might not make a great haunted house.”
Blake then touted this year’s “Poltergeist” as a great design by Nick and Dylan’s team, mentioning how they staged the entry through the dirt pit for the swimming pool, while Nick contributed the name of one section of the house is “the esophagus.” (Other discussion is omitted here, so I don’t spoil it for anyone.)
“The steak moves,” Blake finally said. “I think that makes me the happiest.”
The audience applauded his comment.
Responding to a question about the “Stranger Things” season 1 house design, Blake said, “The show is mildly scary, bbut it’s also just a fun show.” so the team had to play up the scary parts while keeping the alphabet wall, Byers’ shed and other iconic scenes.
Blake mused that this might be thhe first time the scareactors are used to tell the story, not just for scares. Blake mentioned the casting process for the scareactors to most closely resemble the show’s characters.
One woman in the audience that night said she missed the Alice-type houses with the 3-D glasses and bright colors. Blake said it’s a cycle, and that style might well come back into fashion.
Some people commented on the smells associated with one scene in this year’s Scary Tales: Deadly Ever After, an original-concept house that’s a sequel to other Scary Tales houses.
The designers explained the concept for that one scene (and i’m supplementing their words with what I learned in the Unmasking tour): Humpty Dumpty was sitting on his wall, minding his own eggy business, when a cannonball smashes through his shell, killing him and splattering yolk and eggwhite all over the courtyard, including into a brazier with glowing-hot coals. This caused his innards to cook and splash over some castle guards, burning into their faces and causing them to share their agony with the folks going through the house. The smell of rotten eggs adds to the fun.
(The shell of Humpty Dumpty was carefully cut during design: if all the king’s hirses and all the king’s men, once they healed from their burns, could FIND all the pieces in that scene, they truly could put poor H.D. back together again.)
After summarizing, Blake told of eating a meal at a backstage grill area with thhe scareactors of the castle guards. Blake said he lost his appetite.
Will there ever be a Harry Potter house? (This audience question never occurred to me, as we already have the two major rides and twisting delights of Knockturn Alley available daily at Universal, and I find some of my fellow tourists pretty scary.)
The designers replied collectively with, “Never say never.”
Will HHN ever span the two parks?
I think Dylan replied to this: Because of the space needed for the houses, USF works better. The IOA pathways are not as good for the logistics of moving through thousands of people nightly.
Responding to another question, Blake said they do sequels (Scary Tales: DEA) and prequels (Dead Exposure: PZ) to original houses when there’s a passion for it. Dylan said he wants to see a ScreamHouse sequel.
“Fallen was my passion project last year,” Dylan said, to get stunts (such as bungee cords and flyovers) back in a house.
Blake and Nick revealed that Fallen came from a dream Dylan had and told to the team.
For IPs, design can be easier because of visual references from the film or TV show, the designers said, but being faithful to the exact pattter of wallpaper or other memorable set design can be tough. Dylan mentioned a lengthy search for the wallpaper and 1970s-era wood paneling for the “Stranger Things” house.
The final question of the night, one the panelists said came up during prior nights’ Q&A sessions, was, “Why did Bill & Ted go away?”
Taking some time to formulate his response, Blake answered diplomatically that the show might return some year. (Perhaps for HHN 30 in, what?, 2020? Thhe fans can dream, although I do like that Academy of Villains has an auditorium whhere they can move, and we can sit down to enjoy their show.)
I did not ask any questions. If I had, I would have asked if Universal will ever do a large-format, coffee-table-style book to celebrate all the years of HHN, with professional photos, the backstories behind the houses and insider trivia. I would also ask whether anyone is responsible for sanitizing all the flaps, curtains and other touchpoints that get groped by the thousands of attendees each night, or whether they’re left as happy little germ factories in their often moist, dark houses. (I did ask about this on my Unmasking tour, and the response was, tentatively, that no one cleans the stuff. I could be remembering this wrong, though — does anyone know?)
SPECIAL ‘TREAT’
When the Q&A wrapped up just before 6 p.m., staffers led the group over to the “Trick ‘r Treat” house based on the 2007 flm. The organizers had been careful to point out that we could request an escort to one of the other houses in the back of the park (original houses Slaughter Sinema or Dead Exposure: Patient Zero, or perhaps even The Horrors of Blumhouse IP house this year featuring the films “Happy Death Day” and “The First Purge”) in case the “T ‘r T” house did not appeal.
I hung back to confirm the spelling of the names of the three presenters with organizer Nick, who seemed a bit surprised by the number of APs who stuck with the presenters to chat. Perhaps that did not happen on other nights?
As they said this was an experiment, I encourage you to find a way to contact the HHN planning staff if you’d want to attend such Q&A sessions in future years. I had a grand time!
Just don’t forget to bring non-electric “recording devices” of your own.
PASSHOLDER PERKS
The Q&A was the latest in a series of UOAP perks, some of which might already be noted here on the DisBoards.
In late August, Universal shooed out the general public for a four-hour AP-only night on the Studios side, leaving the Islands side open regular hours for all. This kicked off a multi-week passholder appreciation event, including four free collectible buttons (not an enameled pin) — one a month — playing on the inside knowledge of experienced APs: September offered “I Don’t Need a Map,” October has “I’m dying to visit Carey, Ohio” (while the city is real, it’s an inside reference to HHN), November should have a Single Rider icon (I’m so excited!) and December’s button states, “Not Yet” with a snowflake on it.
All APs need to do to get their button is to have their pass scanned at the guest services center (11 a.m. to 6 p.m., the website states) near the Men in Black ride in USF, or the one in Marvel Super Hero Island in IOA.
Staff at the turnstiles and registers are quick to say, “Thank you for being a passholder” when I interact with them — part of their training, I know, but it’s appreciated.
During the week I write this, SeaWorld Orlando is in soft opening of its Infinity Falls raft ride; Walt Disney World Resort just opened Toy Story Land, from which can be seen construction of the Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge annex inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios; and Universal itself is well on the way to constructing its new coaster at Harry Potter’s Hogsmeade village in IOA. Universal knows APs are a reliable source of revenue and positive word-of-mouth marketing when we’re treated right. I feel Universal does this quite well.
I know this is the DisBoards, so if you’ve the inclination and income to acquire dual citizenship as an AP for Universal as well as Disney, I recommend it.
While the Q&A was free once I reserved a seat via the website, I still had to have a valid HHN ticket to enter. I opted for the Frequent Fear pass this year, but Universal offers many types of tickets.
I reserved a seat for the final date offered, 5 to 6 p.m. Sept. 30, after learning of it through the UOAP monthly passholder newsletter and checking frequently on its website. (I signed up Aug. 30, a month ahead of time.) Although other APs later said the dates were full and they could not RSVP, dozens of seats remained empty in the theater when I attended. What a shame to miss out on this free event, and what a treat for those of us who attended!
INAUGURAL EVENT
One of the organizers (I was on the other side of the theater and did not catch a name) asked everyone to put away cameras and cellphones before the session began: no recording devices. I took the chance that my pen-and-paper method would be OK, and I would not be sharing this if I’d not received permission (from organizer Nick, though I did not ask his last name).
The reason for no recording? They wanted to keep the sessions unique and special for the APs who attended. While they likely ran the same behind-the-scenes video at the start of each night’s Q&A, the organizers did not moderate the questions or censor anyone.
The presenters said at the outset they could not answer questions about money, or about what plans they have for next year’s HHN. Time ran out before anyone got around to asking about the outstanding Academy of Villians dance troupe, as the presenters were all architects of the scare zones and houses.
If you missed out, make sure to go to guest services or mention it if you take one of their exit polls, so Universal knows we want to do this sort of thing again next year. (My goal, of course, is to make you envy anyone who got to attend a Q&A session and inspire you to march straight in to guest services to demand more. That way, I can compete with you all to RSVP for it next HHN.)
The session started with the same behind-the-scenes video that can be seen on screens in some queues during HHN, with footage of past years and interviews with everyone from Executive Director Michael Aiello to individual scarectors talking about their scare strategies. It’s probably available online somewhere on the universal site, but I’m not skilled anough to find it or link to it. I’ve noticed videos playing in a fairly quiet area in the queue for the E.T. ride — this year, it’s the entrance for the general queue for the “Trick ‘r’ Treat” house, and the exit for that house as well as the Seeds of Extinction house, if you wanted to hang out and watch various HHN-related videos instead of walking the houses and zones.
Three HHN designers took the stage: Blake Braswell, Nick Collins and Dylan Kolof (described by the other two as their archivist of all things HHN). I’ll use their first names throughout, as that’s what’s on their nametags.
One last mention of jargon used in this post: Universal does two types of houses, original concepts and those based on intellectual properties (IP). While it might make sense to use the two-letter abbreviation OC for the originals, I mostly heard staffers call them “original,” so that’s what I’ll use.
A SHOW IN ITSELF
The trio of presenters were well chosen: knowledgeable, well-spoken and funny, with obvious respect and friendship between them.
I don’t know shorthand, so I did not record all questions or their full answers. When I could remember a quote verbatim long enough to write it down, I’ll put it in quotation marks. (This does not mean I got it right: the presenters might well have said something else and I misheard them. Or I can’t read my own poor handwriting as I transcribe my notes. Or my slightly wonky keyboard spit out some typos I did not catch.) If you were there and asked a question I have not mentioned, my apologies.
If you attended a session and want to add your own notes, please do!
As I bought a six-house Behind-the-Screams: Unmasking the Horror Tour on a prior weekend, I might add in some details from that, where relevant. (You get a ton of information about HHN and the specific houses you tour, a special lanyard, and may take photos in designated spots inside the day-lit structures. Well worth it, even if I didn’t get to tour my favorite house for this year, Slaughter Sinema — designed by Nick Collins, as I learned at the Q&A.)
Universal’s parks in the United States, Japan and Singapore all do Halloween Horror Nights, each with their own design team. From the Unmasking tour, I learned there are only five people responsible for dressing the sets of all the houses each year, creating the spooky ambiance for each theme and adding in delightful in-jokes and references to past HHNs that only the sharpest eyes (or those who buy the daylight tours) will spot. I do not know how large the teams are for costume design or makeup.
Blake said the concept meetings are the most fun, for him. This prompted a question about whether the parks collaborate on their HHN plans each year.
Nick replied the California team is “fairly autonomous” to Florida.
Dylan said the size and location of the houses affect design the most, so Hollywood and Orlando differ because their buildings differ.
How hard it is to get IP rights?
Blake said rights to partnerships will vary wildly from year to year. The IP process was different for the 2017 “Trick ‘r’ Treat” scare zone than it was for this year’s “T ‘r T” house.
Nick said even rights to actor likenesses can be tough, mentioning “The Walking Dead” among other IPs.
During the Unmasking tour of this year’s “Stranger Things” season 1 house, I learned the show’s producers wanted such authenticity in the scareactors that the casting process took longer than usual. Many of the boys’ roles only got one actor approved. Because each house tends to have two full casts, working 45 minutes on, 45 off, this means you won’t see all the boys pop up in scenes during one walkthrough — you’d have to time it carefully to see all the scareactors. There are more than one actor cast for the sheriff, Joyce and Eleven, as I recall, and their resemblance to the show’s characters is remarkable.
“I think the ‘no’ list gets smaller and smaller the more that we do it,” Blake said, about negotiating the rights for IP houses.
How far out do you plan for the IPs?
On this Sept. 30, 2018, date, Nick said they’re already a week in to planning for 2019.
What’s your dream project?
For Blake, it would be Ridley Scott’s “Alien” films. this got much applause from the audience.
Dylan said he’s happy with “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” as a scare zone this year. (It’s the smallest zone, in a new spot for a scare zone this year: the choke point between the buildingd and lagoon across from the entrance to the Transformers ride. It seems well recieved by crowds, and anyone deathly afraid of clowns can detour through the vampires or the rotting pumpkins to get past.)
Nick said, “I, personally, like the Rob Zombie aesthetic.”
What changed the most this year, from plan to house?
Nick said two mazes (another term for the haunted houses) that were drawn up didn’t make it past the design stage this year.
Dylan said he was surprised by how the concept for Slaughter Sinema changed from when he was involved in the initial design to when he saw the final house, having been tasked with other projects during production. He and Blake credited Nick for the house and all the drive-in, B-movie trailers.
“We just wrote down names of movies we thought would be terrible,” Nick replied. “One of them was called, ‘Detroit!’”
Nick then asked whether anyone in the audience was from Detroit, to a smattering of applause. (I asked in the HHN store whether I could get copies of all the Slaughter Sinema movie posters — no, but I could get one, maybe ‘Midnight Snack 2: The HouseSwarming,’ on a custom-printed T-shirt. I’m still deciding whether to do that and try to frame it.)
Returning to the original question, Blake said the reality of the “Killer Klowns” zone was affected by the new location.
“I think, for me,” he said, “that changed the most” from the conceptual designs.
Responding to a question about what houses they plan first, Nick said because the IPs can take more time for contractual negotiations, the designers will often start on the original-concept houses first.
Can we get a movie to pay homage to some of the classic HHN icons, such as Jack, the Caretaker or the Director?
Blake thought that would be great, but filmmaking is not under the auspices of his team.
Where are all the props kept?
Dylan said they have much of it kept in the prop house on site, althhough they can’t keep the large set pieces from year to year. He said a favorite of his is a lovely statue of a woman that apppeared in the 2006 ScreamHouse: Resurrection has popped up annually. This year, it’s in Seeds of Extinction.
Blake said the baby theme some have noted in Hollywood and Orlando this year was unintentional.
A woman asked something about a scene where Santa Claus is being devoured. I did not catch the initial question, but it led to a discussion of how the designers make choices for the scare themes.
Nick said, “People can’t be scared and mad (angry) in the same brain at the same time. ... It’s just really hard to keep somebody in the (mental scare) zone if they’re mad about something” such as a half-eaten Santa, or violence done to children. Therefore, the design team tends to avoid these topics.
About how they plan the designs, Nick said, “Our process is very organic. ... sometimes you don’t know it until you see it,” so they will modify zones and houses on the fly to improve them. (One improvement I noted during my September walkthroughs of the Dead Exposure: Patient Zero house is the addition of puppets in an early scene. Perhaps they were planned all along, but I did not encounter them thhe first weekend and was not too impressed with that house. I was pleasantly, and literally, surprised by the addition when I visited again in late September. I keep going back to try to prove my theory that Patient Zero is, in fact, a French mime.)
Replying to a question about the software they use, Dylan said he, Nick, Manuel Cordero and David Hughes (I might not have the spelling, or even the names, correct on these two designers, sorry) use SketchUp (the software is available for free, according to a quick search) to design the houses.
“The SketchUp model is my favorite part of the entire process,” Dylan said, and he uses 3-D glasses with the program to view his final models.
Nick said the tilted floor of 2017’s dead watrs house would not have been the same without computer modeling.
Has Universal done any surveys to plan for a “viewers’ choice” house?
Blake encouraged everyone to participate in the surveys sent out by Universal.
I’m not sure what the question was, but Nick talked about how “The Shining,” “The Exorcist” and “Poltergeist” IPs might not have worked a few years ago: “What makes a great movie might not make a great haunted house.”
Blake then touted this year’s “Poltergeist” as a great design by Nick and Dylan’s team, mentioning how they staged the entry through the dirt pit for the swimming pool, while Nick contributed the name of one section of the house is “the esophagus.” (Other discussion is omitted here, so I don’t spoil it for anyone.)
“The steak moves,” Blake finally said. “I think that makes me the happiest.”
The audience applauded his comment.
Responding to a question about the “Stranger Things” season 1 house design, Blake said, “The show is mildly scary, bbut it’s also just a fun show.” so the team had to play up the scary parts while keeping the alphabet wall, Byers’ shed and other iconic scenes.
Blake mused that this might be thhe first time the scareactors are used to tell the story, not just for scares. Blake mentioned the casting process for the scareactors to most closely resemble the show’s characters.
One woman in the audience that night said she missed the Alice-type houses with the 3-D glasses and bright colors. Blake said it’s a cycle, and that style might well come back into fashion.
Some people commented on the smells associated with one scene in this year’s Scary Tales: Deadly Ever After, an original-concept house that’s a sequel to other Scary Tales houses.
The designers explained the concept for that one scene (and i’m supplementing their words with what I learned in the Unmasking tour): Humpty Dumpty was sitting on his wall, minding his own eggy business, when a cannonball smashes through his shell, killing him and splattering yolk and eggwhite all over the courtyard, including into a brazier with glowing-hot coals. This caused his innards to cook and splash over some castle guards, burning into their faces and causing them to share their agony with the folks going through the house. The smell of rotten eggs adds to the fun.
(The shell of Humpty Dumpty was carefully cut during design: if all the king’s hirses and all the king’s men, once they healed from their burns, could FIND all the pieces in that scene, they truly could put poor H.D. back together again.)
After summarizing, Blake told of eating a meal at a backstage grill area with thhe scareactors of the castle guards. Blake said he lost his appetite.
Will there ever be a Harry Potter house? (This audience question never occurred to me, as we already have the two major rides and twisting delights of Knockturn Alley available daily at Universal, and I find some of my fellow tourists pretty scary.)
The designers replied collectively with, “Never say never.”
Will HHN ever span the two parks?
I think Dylan replied to this: Because of the space needed for the houses, USF works better. The IOA pathways are not as good for the logistics of moving through thousands of people nightly.
Responding to another question, Blake said they do sequels (Scary Tales: DEA) and prequels (Dead Exposure: PZ) to original houses when there’s a passion for it. Dylan said he wants to see a ScreamHouse sequel.
“Fallen was my passion project last year,” Dylan said, to get stunts (such as bungee cords and flyovers) back in a house.
Blake and Nick revealed that Fallen came from a dream Dylan had and told to the team.
For IPs, design can be easier because of visual references from the film or TV show, the designers said, but being faithful to the exact pattter of wallpaper or other memorable set design can be tough. Dylan mentioned a lengthy search for the wallpaper and 1970s-era wood paneling for the “Stranger Things” house.
The final question of the night, one the panelists said came up during prior nights’ Q&A sessions, was, “Why did Bill & Ted go away?”
Taking some time to formulate his response, Blake answered diplomatically that the show might return some year. (Perhaps for HHN 30 in, what?, 2020? Thhe fans can dream, although I do like that Academy of Villains has an auditorium whhere they can move, and we can sit down to enjoy their show.)
I did not ask any questions. If I had, I would have asked if Universal will ever do a large-format, coffee-table-style book to celebrate all the years of HHN, with professional photos, the backstories behind the houses and insider trivia. I would also ask whether anyone is responsible for sanitizing all the flaps, curtains and other touchpoints that get groped by the thousands of attendees each night, or whether they’re left as happy little germ factories in their often moist, dark houses. (I did ask about this on my Unmasking tour, and the response was, tentatively, that no one cleans the stuff. I could be remembering this wrong, though — does anyone know?)
SPECIAL ‘TREAT’
When the Q&A wrapped up just before 6 p.m., staffers led the group over to the “Trick ‘r Treat” house based on the 2007 flm. The organizers had been careful to point out that we could request an escort to one of the other houses in the back of the park (original houses Slaughter Sinema or Dead Exposure: Patient Zero, or perhaps even The Horrors of Blumhouse IP house this year featuring the films “Happy Death Day” and “The First Purge”) in case the “T ‘r T” house did not appeal.
I hung back to confirm the spelling of the names of the three presenters with organizer Nick, who seemed a bit surprised by the number of APs who stuck with the presenters to chat. Perhaps that did not happen on other nights?
As they said this was an experiment, I encourage you to find a way to contact the HHN planning staff if you’d want to attend such Q&A sessions in future years. I had a grand time!
Just don’t forget to bring non-electric “recording devices” of your own.
PASSHOLDER PERKS
The Q&A was the latest in a series of UOAP perks, some of which might already be noted here on the DisBoards.
In late August, Universal shooed out the general public for a four-hour AP-only night on the Studios side, leaving the Islands side open regular hours for all. This kicked off a multi-week passholder appreciation event, including four free collectible buttons (not an enameled pin) — one a month — playing on the inside knowledge of experienced APs: September offered “I Don’t Need a Map,” October has “I’m dying to visit Carey, Ohio” (while the city is real, it’s an inside reference to HHN), November should have a Single Rider icon (I’m so excited!) and December’s button states, “Not Yet” with a snowflake on it.
All APs need to do to get their button is to have their pass scanned at the guest services center (11 a.m. to 6 p.m., the website states) near the Men in Black ride in USF, or the one in Marvel Super Hero Island in IOA.
Staff at the turnstiles and registers are quick to say, “Thank you for being a passholder” when I interact with them — part of their training, I know, but it’s appreciated.
During the week I write this, SeaWorld Orlando is in soft opening of its Infinity Falls raft ride; Walt Disney World Resort just opened Toy Story Land, from which can be seen construction of the Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge annex inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios; and Universal itself is well on the way to constructing its new coaster at Harry Potter’s Hogsmeade village in IOA. Universal knows APs are a reliable source of revenue and positive word-of-mouth marketing when we’re treated right. I feel Universal does this quite well.
I know this is the DisBoards, so if you’ve the inclination and income to acquire dual citizenship as an AP for Universal as well as Disney, I recommend it.
