Halloween Horror Nights 2017

[Merboy]

So I was perusing Amazon and there was an ad that came up "relevant to my interests". Apparently, unbeknownst to me, last year and now for 2017 as well Universal's Halloween Horror Nights is going to have a house themed for American Horror Story.

And I quoth:

American Horror Story Returns to Halloween Horror Nights 2017
The next chapter unfolds.

By: Michael Aiello

You've been patiently waiting for the first house reveal of Halloween Horror Nights 2017, and this one won't disappoint. I'm excited to announce we're bringing back FX's American Horror Story for a second year.

This all-new house will feature brand new content from Season 2: Asylum, Season 3: Coven and Season 6: Roanoke. And to really blow it out, we're using our largest floor plan—aka our uber-maze—to bring to life the three incredibly detailed seasons.

American Horror Story has some of the most intricate and intimidating characters I've ever seen. We've worked hard to once again bring this unique anthology to life, recreating the series with every turn of this maze.

In Asylum, travel through the decades of the notorious Briarcliff – evade Dr. Arden's grotesque human “Rasper"experiments and come face to “face” with the serial killer, Bloody Face.

New Orleans aesthetics will surround, as you're drawn into the wrath of descendants of the Salem witches and their unquenchable thirst for power in Coven.

And finally, relive the horrific story of the Millers in Roanoke – where you'll be at the mercy of Piggy, the grisly Polk family and the ghosts of the blood moon.

With the help of series creator Ryan Murphy and 20th Century Fox, we've perfectly captured the environments, moments and scares American Horror Story entails.

Halloween Horror Nights 2017 is going to be incredible and over the next several months you're going to be hearing from three talented (and equally twisted) members of my Creative Development Team, Show Directors Patrick Braillard, Charles Gray, and Blake Braswell. They will be announcing everything from houses to scare zones to show slates.

Halloween Horror Nights 2017 is shaping up to be one for the books, so stay tuned for more.

It's never too early to start panicking. Make sure to grab your tickets now, and I'll see you there!

Source

I am a big fan of AHS and, frankly, I lost my shit over AHS: Coven. If anyone is going to this I would LOVE a trip report because for me this house alone is a reason to make the trip down there. It sounds like a lot of fun. Does anyone know if Universal has a particularly good Halloween event in general?

 

[Ziva]

Universal's Halloween event is an industry standard; it's very, very highly regarded! It's really different than BGW in a lot of ways. It's separately ticketed, so plan ahead for that! If you want to do any mazes other than AHS, you'll definitely need a queue pass; the waits can be hours long. It's a lot more immersive and adult than BGW, so except awesome theming but also much more intensity in both the scare and gore departments. There are some really good writeups and POVs of past HHN online if you want a good understanding of what the experience is like!

 

[Nicole]

HHN is, indeed, considered the industry standard, and I understand why most people love it. My friend and I, however, agree that we had no interest in returning.

Up front, I will say that it is incredibly professionally done, and they have certainly mastered all of the operational details. And perhaps I merely went on the wrong year. And, honestly, I don't like horror movies. But I only enjoyed two of the houses, and we used Express Pass to be able to do all nine.

I loved Asylum in Wonderland (the 3D Fun house) and the Body Collectors house.

Other than those two, I didn't find them scary in a fun way. Everything was assembly line, for lack of a better term. There was a continuous conga line, snaking through every house, except the first one. The actors would perform one scare timed to sound and light effects, usally in full view, and then reset. The images were disturbing, vice starting.

The year I went, there seemed to be an over-reliance on firearms. In almost every house, someone aimed a gun at me. I do not find that in any way entertaining.

I, personally, prefer I level of creativity and an emphasis on mythology and the supernatural, neither of which I found.

I found the primary show, Bill and Ted, to be completely puerile. I'm sure that most people love it, but I prefer wit to scattelogical and sexual jokes.

Finally, even with the Express Passes, we waited up to an hour to get into a house. Because we went to the park early and waited in on of the holding areas, we didn't gave to wait at all for our first house. Towards the end of the night, we found shorter lines, as well. But generally, the park was packed.

I know I am an outlier, but I really didn't like HHN.

 

[Merboy]

You know, that's what I always sort of assumed about the "higher-end" Halloween park events. I've seen some advertisements on TV and even a documentary once about them and they seemed to veer more towards scare-the-shit-out-you rather than fun. That's not my style of Halloween. I don't care for gore and violence and when it comes to horror movies which I do enjoy, like you Nicole, I don't like disturbing concepts and imagery.

But of course it's always worth a visit just to see if it's my thing. But I appreciate an honest opinion and I really have sort of expected that version of Halloween from larger parks. So, good to know! Thanks muchly!

 

[netdvn]

The way I see it, the biggest difference between HHN and smaller haunts like Haunt and HOS are the set pieces are a lot nicer and the parent company has a lot more money to work with. The scares themselves are still similar no matter where you go. Some places get creative with them but in a lot of cases most of the actors still pop out of some hiding spot, say something or activate some sound effect, then reset.

I honestly don't even think HHN is the best haunt in Florida let alone best in the country and I loved the event last year.

Like HOS, HHN is best enjoyed on an off peak night. I went last year during Team Night and closing weekend and had a much better time then because the crowds weren't miserable and there wasn't as much conga lining going on. If I had gone on a Saturday or around Halloween, I would've probably been miserable.