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It began in 1991, under the title "Fright Nights" but was quickly changed to Halloween Horror Nights by the next year. It began as a 3 night event but has progressed into a 19 night event throughout October. Sometimes event nights were planned for November 1 and 2, depending on the calendar days since Wednesday through Sunday were the prime event nights. An occasional wednesday occurs during what scare-actors (the park's hired actors whose job is to scare people through a given role) dub as "Hell Week", known for its large crowds and the increase in guest problems that arise due to intoxication. The event features up to seven haunted houses every year (all of which are different from the previous year), and a new version of the Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure, plus several scarezones. From 1990-2001, the event was held at Universal's other park, Universal Studios Florida . Halloween Horror Nights has taken place at Universal's Islands of Adventure since 2002. In 2004, the park experimented with a dual park format, which opened parts of both parks. Guests were funneled through backstage areas and the soundstages, where most of the haunts are built. Haunted Houses and Scarezones The event is made up of several haunted houses, or mazes where guests walk through built environments which are dark and filled with props and sets that hide scare-acters, whose purpose is to scare the guest through various means, usually with loud noises, special effects, or simply leaping out at the them. The scarezones are sets or streets built/redressed in the open outdoors that employ free-roaming actors who usually utilize chainsaws, trash cans, and various other props. Starting in 1991, the event had one house: Dungeon of Terror. As the event became more popular, houses were added every other year or so. The total is up to 7 houses and 5 scarezones, but are likely to increase in the future. Sometimes actual attractions are employed in the event's hauntings. The former Kongfrontation building, currently the Revenge of the Mummy rollercoaster, was actually used as a scarezone/party zone with live actors. Guests were allowed onto the previously closed floor of the attraction which was a re-creation of New York City 1976, and were able to look up at the King Kong audio animatronic. In 2005, Poseidon's Fury was converted into a haunted maze and remained closed during the day. JAWs also inserted actors into several scenes for one event. MARVEL SUPERHERO ISLAND AND SEUSS LANDING While every section of both parks has been converted to a haunted zone, concert venue, or maze for the event, the newest park to the resort brought complications. Suess Landing is used with permission from Theodore Gisel's (Dr. Seuss) widow, who approved of its construction and the attractions within and has rights over what occurs during the events. It is said that the park was restricted to simply darkening this section of the park and playing the music backwards. Strobe lights and fog were inserted in some sections, but under no circumstances could characters be seen in any ant-thetical manner. In fact, actors were strictly prohibited up until 2005, when the park put cloaked characters in the streets on Friday and Saturday nights only. Marvel Superhero Island was first used as a scarezone in 2002. In its incarnation, the "island" would be taken over at night by the Marvel villians. The Superheroes were either dead or had been defeated, while Carnage, Scream, the Punisher, an army of chainsaw gangs and several scarred police officers roamed the streets. Flamethrowers, broken-down cars (including one police vehicle), and junkyard debris littered the streets. The main attraction was ''Maximum Carnage'', Carnage's haunted maze. The island came under fire for its portrayal of the heroes. Several props implying that well known superheroes had died upon them inside the Maximum Carnage attraction was one of the reasons. The portrayal of villians was perhaps another. For whatever reason, Universal has not focused the island on its Marvel heroes since, and instead used the area as a generic cityscape with bikers, mutated residents of a toxic spill, and more innocuously, a party zone with stiltwalkers dressed as Dracula and Frankenstein. EVENT PHRASES Each year, Halloween Horror Nights had it's own phrase, except for HHN 2, 3, 4.
2005 In 2005, the event featured these attractions: Haunted Houses
Scarezones
2005 was an important year for HHN. Universal tied the event with an elaborate backstory of how the land was ruled by an evil queen, and how each land worked for her. The story wove through each house and scarezone and depicted the roles of the various actors and how they worked for the queen. As it went, the land of Terra Cruentus was a dark realm of middle-earthian and modern mythos. Guests entered through Terra Guard Run (Port of Entry at IOA), which was a melting pot of the people of Terra Cruentus. The Queen herself was a tree rooted dictator who rode a motorcycle featuring wings and the head of a wolf/bull hybrid. She ruled from her Terra Throne, a twisted tree forged of blood and steel by the hard workers of the Cemetery Mines. Her source of power was the blade, called the Terra Throne Blade, that was used during human sacrifices, which were needed to satisfy her and continue her rule over the land. The blade was forged in the fire pits, and The bodies of these sacrifices were given to the Body Collectors, who took them apart and kept only what could be salvaged. While the workers worked, the children of Terra Cuerantes terrorized the local Skool, especially around the Season of the Queen, a time of ritual in the land where the Queen was resurrected. While most of the realms worked, the realm of Iron Bone Gorge aka Blood Thunder Alley roared to life with passionate vice, as the demons inhabiting the world lured guests to celebrate the resurrection of the queen through drinking of the Bloodberry Wine and escaping to the local Demon Cantina, where guests could be terrorized by the vampiric assailants who drank there. Beyond "Maldakken Pass" (an area of vendors and derelict props) lay the "tests" of fear: Blood Ruins, Where Evil Hides, and Cold Blind Terror. The nightly sacrfices included planted actors who were brought up on stage and mutilated via special effects such as fake chainsaws and swords. If the crowd was not into it that night, actors were occasionally let go. Some guests panicked thinking it was real and asked the actors if they were "ok", leading them to run for a backstage area. 2004 In 2004, Universal pushed for the event to take place in both parks, albeit in condensed forms. The event's houses were sprawled mostly in Universal Studios Florida, however guests entered through Islands of Adventure and could visit Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure, the Disorientorium house, the Marvel Island party zone, or pass through Seuss Landing and Field of Screams to go to the studios park. The parks would close portions of each other, only keeping open hit attractions like (which had opened that year) open during the event. The parks became so packed, that Universal opened closed portions (particularly Men in Black, Jaws, Jurassic Park and the Lost Continent) on Saturdays and Sundays to alleviate crowd control, and began inserting actors throughout Jurassic Park and Lost Continent to fill the dead space. The event featured these attractions:
Scarezones:
Halloween Horror Nights Official Site Universal Orlando Resort Official Site ChainsawWolf HHN Discussion Group http://groups.myspace.com/HalloweeNHorroRNightS Myspace Group Fan Page HHNVault-a comprehensive fan site with complete history and photos and a forum HauntZone: Unofficial Halloween Horror Nights Source |
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