Halloween Horror Nights 34 (UOR) - Speculation & Rumors

[kingcooger]

I don't think the Haunted House lineup has ever been cohesive; even if you look at a gold standard year like HHN18 they lumped a spaceship, zombies, Jack the Ripper and Fairy Tales together under "phobias". Which is fine though, it's way more important to have variety than cohesion in a lineup, and the facades are so far from the midway the clashing themes don't really matter. They exist in their own separate world.

I think when people say cohesion what they're really looking for is the entire park to feel "full". Consistent music loops that use spookier music, dead spots between scarezones filled with hordes, maybe smaller shows, or even just passive decorations instead of just #HHN34 projected on walls. A lot of this passive atmosphere has disappeared over the years, right now once you make it out of the front of the park the entire lagoon area can feel like one big deadzone.

An icon makes a tie-in easier as they can host the event, but even just a consistent theme like a haunted garden/conservatory can work just fine if they commit to the vibe like they're saying. The return of a chainsaw horde on the spec map is a good sign if it comes true.

2009 was cohesive; they were all movies playing at the theater.

Also, The Usher was a victim who held onto his rage, which means we have had a proper victim
as an Icon before.

 

[amar831]

I don't think the Haunted House lineup has ever been cohesive; even if you look at a gold standard year like HHN18 they lumped a spaceship, zombies, Jack the Ripper and Fairy Tales together under "phobias". Which is fine though, it's way more important to have variety than cohesion in a lineup, and the facades are so far from the midway the clashing themes don't really matter. They exist in their own separate world.

I think when people say cohesion what they're really looking for is the entire park to feel "full". Consistent music loops that use spookier music, dead spots between scarezones filled with hordes, maybe smaller shows, or even just passive decorations instead of just #HHN34 projected on walls. A lot of this passive atmosphere has disappeared over the years, right now once you make it out of the front of the park the entire lagoon area can feel like one big deadzone.

An icon makes a tie-in easier as they can host the event, but even just a consistent theme like a haunted garden/conservatory can work just fine if they commit to the vibe like they're saying. The return of a chainsaw horde on the spec map is a good sign if it comes true.

I know there were no traditional zones in 2012, but they did have random set pieces throughout the park that unified the theme of that year. I feel like having some set pieces around in the usual dead zones could go a long way.

 

[Jake S]

I think the music is a huge part, perhaps the most important part, of making it all feel “on purpose.”

 

[Kichkinet85]

2009 was cohesive; they were all movies playing at the theater.

Also, The Usher was a victim who held onto his rage, which means we have had a proper victim
as an Icon before.

You are right. Usher was a victim but he also died and came back to life to seek revenge. As of now we don’t know if Sergio will. While they absolutely could go the Usher route with him, I don’t think they will and he’ll just be a victim. So to me this makes him not an icon. As we learn more this can change tho!

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I think Universal Orlando made the choice to go after larger IP houses rather than the super cohesive years. I think there are several different reasons, from the time it takes to work with 3rd parties for approvals to the additon of more houses per year. That being said, if IPs take a backseat in a future year I'd like to see them lean into a fully thoughout event where all the zones and houses tie into each other.

 

[jseal777]

I think the theme this year is “stuff I’m gonna really enjoy while blitzed/toasted”
Bold to reuse a theme from previous years but it always works.

 

[johnathanm]

I know there were no traditional zones in 2012, but they did have random set pieces throughout the park that unified the theme of that year. I feel like having some set pieces around in the usual dead zones could go a long way.

I do agree even small touches in dead zones would work wonders imo. But probably not much ROI in terms of experience for the average guest.

 

[HHN Maddux]

I think one detail y'all are forgetting about is that the houses and zones are other paintings within the conservatory coming to life:

"The idea of horrifying paintings and artwork coming to life, that theme carries through in how we're executing that overall theme throughout the event."

"What I love about some of the works of art you're gonna see as you go through this Spanish manor is that their works of art are going to come to life throughout all of the event. So if you pay close attention, you might see some of the artwork that our graphic designers so brilliantly put together, that show the other things within our event."

It's very Alan Wake, and I love it.

 

[kingcooger]

I think one detail y'all are forgetting about is that the houses and zones are other paintings within the conservatory coming to life (or at least that's the impression I got from the panel):

"The idea of horrifying paintings and artwork coming to life, that theme carries through in how we're executing that overall theme throughout the event."

"What I love about some of the works of art you're gonna see as you go through this Spanish manor is that their works of art are going to come to life throughout all of the event. So if you pay close attention, you might see some of the artwork that our graphic designers so brilliantly put together, that show the other things within our event."

It's very Alan Wake, and I love it.

I have long thought that this was the way to go theme wise.

For instance, if they ever decided to adapt the Puppeteer character from overseas, just hangs a marionette of a specific character/monster from the house somewhere by the queue or house entrance with theater red curtains as a backdrop.

Now every house takes place in his theater and each house is just a show he is putting on.

 

[Lucky Planet]

2009 was cohesive; they were all movies playing at the theater.

Also, The Usher was a victim who held onto his rage, which means we have had a proper victim
as an Icon before.

2007 as well. a carnival, of carnage. all streets and zones were cohesive .
the music was also part of the carnival. everything

 

[Returning-The-Reaction]

didn't some of the Mary Shaw actors have tennis shoes with wheels one scarezone year? (2010?)

Yes. Some Body Collectors also wore Heelys in 2008's scarezone "Streets of Blood"

 

[Casper Gutman]

So which house gets left off the tour this year? Feels like Five Nights is the smart bet.

 

[PrimalScream1996]

So which house gets left off the tour this year? Feels like Five Nights is the smart bet.

Five Nights I could see still be on the tour just a lot of rooms probably going to be photos down, maybe the animatronics like they let people down last year with the ecto-1 being photos down at the very end of the house lol.

But if it were to happen and there is a between two houses, FNAF or Terrifier, one of them could be the ones off the tour in some miraculous way.

 

[Acandrews12]

Here’s to hoping for an announcement today. Not because I want one, but because I don’t want to sift through another 3 pages of complaints of two days of no announcements during a “spooky week”.

 

[zombiekimmie]

I think the music is a huge part, perhaps the most important part, of making it all feel “on purpose.”

Definitely agree. My first year attending was 28 and I distinctly remember the music being a huge part of why I came to love the event so much. The past few years, I’ve noticed that you can barely hear the music when you’re in certain areas of the park which really makes it feel like a dead zone. Also can remember years past when the music was loud even as you’re walking over the bridge toward the arches from Citywalk, especially 29’s park loop which got me so hyped as I was coming into the park. The past couple years at least, it’s been very hard to even hear the music at the entrance, which was disappointing. Hoping that changes this year!

 

[TheCodeMan95]

I think the music is a huge part, perhaps the most important part, of making it all feel “on purpose.”

Definitely agree. My first year attending was 28 and I distinctly remember the music being a huge part of why I came to love the event so much. The past few years, I’ve noticed that you can barely hear the music when you’re in certain areas of the park which really makes it feel like a dead zone. Also can remember years past when the music was loud even as you’re walking over the bridge toward the arches from Citywalk, especially 29’s park loop which got me so hyped as I was coming into the park. The past couple years at least, it’s been very hard to even hear the music at the entrance, which was disappointing. Hoping that changes this year!

Zombiekimmie beat me to it - but I STILL listen to the music loop from 2019. To me, that felt like the most cohesive year that I've attended, followed by 2023.

(Quite honestly, 2022 and 2018 were also good with this. But 2019 is in a league of its own imo)

 

[kingmantis]

2009 was cohesive; they were all movies playing at the theater.

Also, The Usher was a victim who held onto his rage, which means we have had a proper victim
as an Icon before.

I think 2009 is actually a really good example of how thematic cohesion works, narrative vs. placemaking. The houses and zones at HHN19 aren't cohesive on their own; it's the Universal Monsters, Sitcom Cannibals, WWII Zombies, Saw & Killer Toys. It's a mishmash that, like the year prior and you pointed out, they grouped together under the loose theme of movies just like HHN18 was phobias.

Just saying they're all movies isn't a theme though. What actually made it cohesive was park-wide music loops mixing film scores & theater bits together. Adding queue videos to set the stage before we actually step into what we're seeing. It was decorating the entryway like a movie theater, complete with ticket booth, scareactors, and a video screen with the Usher welcoming us in. Speaking of Usher, even before going to the park you had a teaser website with an entire miniature Universal Palace Theater with little dolls you could explore. The houses and zones weren't cohesive, but everything surrounding them made it feel like a complete event.

Contrast with last year. You had icons, yes, but they had zero presence outside the opening zone and a cameo in two others. No united music loop, no show for them to host, tribute store and merchandise not only not tying in, but creating their own competing icons. Sinister and Surreal were the narrative cohesion, but there was zero placemaking done to actually tie the event together so everything felt disjointed.

Like Phobias and the Universal Palace Theater, broad themes work best. You just want some scaffolding that the houses can all coexist together in, so a focus on thematic placemaking over in-depth story works better I'd say. Like others pointed out, there's a real opportunity to lean into the event itself being an Artist's Haunted Conservatory, and each house and zone one of his paintings either pulling us in or escaping into our world. The narrative's fine on paper, the question would be how well they'll actually execute tying the everything together.

So which house gets left off the tour this year? Feels like Five Nights is the smart bet.

Was thinking about this too, I think it's FNAF or Jason with how complicated the rights are behind the scenes. I think Terrifier does make the tour but with extremely limited photo opportunities.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

I'm curious if this could be the year we actually see some new set dressing or house signs on the arches.

 

[RedRightDan]

I'm curious if this could be the year we actually see some new set dressing or house signs on the arches.

It sounds like some nice gilded painting frames might be a good idea.

 

[johnathanm]

Definitely agree. My first year attending was 28 and I distinctly remember the music being a huge part of why I came to love the event so much. The past few years, I’ve noticed that you can barely hear the music when you’re in certain areas of the park which really makes it feel like a dead zone. Also can remember years past when the music was loud even as you’re walking over the bridge toward the arches from Citywalk, especially 29’s park loop which got me so hyped as I was coming into the park. The past couple years at least, it’s been very hard to even hear the music at the entrance, which was disappointing. Hoping that changes this year!

+1 on the music volume at the front gate. Was a pretty cool experience crossing the bridge from citywalk and having the 2019 loop hit you. Not sure when that changed, but I think it’s hurt the energy entering the event.