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| 4-26-02 | Well kids it looks like HHN XII might have a new home, thats right "Islands of Adventure" read the full story from the Orlando Sentinel |
| 4-29-02 | It seems a sure thing that Bill and Ted will take place in the Toon Lagoon theater and if the rumors are true, they’ve been given a decent budget to build a nice set for the show. Seems the blank box of the Toon theater gives them the ability to do just about anything while having the show at the Sinbad theater might restrict them to the same stunts that the Sinbad show uses. Plus, it seems there may be some issues about reprogramming the Sinbad effects computers to handle a second show each night while still being ready for the standard day show in the morning. ScreamScape.com |
| 5-26-02 | Well
HHN fans, we've heard from one of our reliable sources that there
may not be a parade this year at Halloween Horror Nights XII. Though
unverified, the story is that during this year's Mardi Gras festivities
at the park, one of the floats ran into the shark in front of "Jaws,"
thus prompting Dodge to pull their sponsored trucks. This may have
been all the reason Dodge needed to part company with the park, as
word also has it that relations between USF and the car company may
have been strained due to the amount of Toyota cars and trucks that
USF has advertised around the park, in accordance with Toyota's Corporate
sponsorship. In a nutshell, no big trucks=no floats, no floats = no parade. No parade is one less hindrance to moving the event to IOA. We certainly hope that this is not the case, as the parade brings with it more than beads and coins, it breathes energy into the park as it winds it's way thru the streets and would leave behind a large void that I am unsure even the thrill of riding the Hulk at night would fill. |
| 5-29-02 | Just a quick note, we've heard a rumor that the Hard Rock Hotel ( Editor's note: have I mentioned I REALLY REALLY want to stay at the Hard Rock? It's gorgeous....) may be joining in on the halloween fun this year, with "scare-actors" lurking in the lobby and possibly hiding in the shadows of it's restaurants. We'll keep you posted! Thanks Nick :) |
| 5-31-02 | As
a follow up to the rumor posted 5/26: During one of the Mardis Gras
parades, there was a small collision with the giant shark; however,
the only damage was to the float. There was a bit of minor damage
done to the trucks during the run , but all were repaired before being
returned and Dodge is still quite happy with the working relationship
they have with the park. It also appears that this will not be an issue anyway at the upcoming festivities as plans are already under way to transform IOA into nights of frights, and with the space limitations of this park, the parade will not be a part of this year’s program. For those always looking for the positive, eliminating the parade would open up a large chunk of the budget to be used elsewhere. The cost of the floats, as well as the cast involved (who we hear rank a little higher on the food chain when it comes to pay scales), beads, coins, candy, gas etc. could be used elsewhere in the park, hopefully allowing even larger budgets for the scare zones and the houses. It has even been suggested that they may keep some of the parade elements such as the stilt walkers as entertainment within the park. The Hard Rock plans to join in still remain unconfirmed. |
| 6-03-02 | This
just in…. we hear from our sources that these are a few of the
names they are throwing around for this year’s Mazes, but these
certainly are subject to change (as new and amazing ideas progress)
and we’ll be sure to keep you posted on all that we hear.
House
of Dead Maniacs:
inspired by films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (I think we’re
back to the old HHN, not the “kinder more gentler” 2001
version) For all of you that think HHN XII is a definite at IOA, Universal Studios is not completely out of the picture just yet. That decision is still pending but does appear to be headed towards IOA. |
| 6-13-02 | Universal
Studios' annual Halloween Horror Nights is moving to a newer and bigger
haunt this fall: Islands of Adventure. "This is a scare-maker's dream come true," said Bob Gault, president of Universal Orlando, which includes both theme parks and the CityWalk restaurant and shopping area. The move, rumored for the past couple of months, is partly a strategy to boost attendance at what is already Universal's biggest annual event. The 21 nights typically draw crowds of 10,000 to 20,000 a night, sometimes exceeding Universal Studios' daytime attendance.
Turnout for the event remained strong last fall despite the post-Sept. 11 travel slump. Gault said the Islands of Adventure park, with its "narrow, winding walkways and many nooks and crannies, will be one giant haunted house. That tropical forest in the Jurassic Park area is really going to be frightening at night when we add weird music." He said Islands offers "more places for monsters to jump out at people" and plenty of theme-park story lines. "In the Marvel Super Hero Island, evil super-villains will reign supreme." By Robert Johnson |
| 6-13-02 afternoon |
This was posted on "ChainSaw Wolf's yahoo chat" and on Our Message Board Horror Nights - The Official Press Release For First Time
Ever, Entire 101-Acre Theme Park Will Transform Into A Never-Before-Imagined
Haunted Experience and Major Thrill Rides Will Operate in Complete
DarknessAfter 11 years at Universal Studios Florida, Universal Orlando's
famed Halloween Horror Nights will make a new haunted home at Islands
|
| 6-18-02 |
Halloween
Horror Nights - (6/18/02) The official annoucement has been made and
this year’s event will indeed take place next door at the Islands
of Fear. The twisted dark pathways of IOA are a “scare-maker’s
dream come true” acording to head-honcho Bob Gault and I agree.
Below is the latest info about each land as we know it: Jurassic Park - Watch out for Half Human and Half Dinosaur mutant creatures stalking the park and take a very dark special ride through the JP River Adventure. A couple of haunt concepts are floating around the rumor mill right now. One claims they will use the long pathways of the Triceratops Encounter for something called Extinction while another talks about using the Camp Jurassic area for a maze called Fear Factor. Lost Continent - Lost Souls and Demons rule a world of Fire & Darkness. The desolate castle queue of Dueling Dragons will also be inhabitated for the first time. There are also rumors of a modified version of the Sinbad show for the event. No one has mentioned it yet, but I’d also love to see them transform the entire Posiedon’s Fury area into one large walk through Haunt as well. Just turn on all the effects and open all the doors, the put a bunch of scary monsters into hiding throughout. Marvel Island - Super Villains have taken over the Super Hero Island. Marvel is said to have it’s own haunted maze and the rumor from June was to theme it to the Spider-man villians: Venom & Carnage. Toon Lagoon - A place where childhood Nightmares have come to life. The insider rumors talk about a Scary Tales maze that would be a revamp of a 2001 haunt. I’m not sure where this would go but there was once talk about creating something along the many twisted pathways around Me Ship, The Olive behind the Popeye ride. Seuss Landing - “Twisted pathways to unexpected places”. I’ve been told not to expect much to happen here due to the “kiddie” nature of the Suess environment. Seuss will be mearly a gateway on to the sound stages where we’ll find one or two major mazes. We’ve heard that one of the soundstages may be themed to John Carpenter’s The Thing as they recreate the creep Arctic Outpost complete with the mutant dog monster. This is probably one of my favorite horror films of all time, so I’ll be a happy camper. Haunted Mazes & More - The press release claims that we can expect at least 5 all new haunted mazes this year as well as new live shows and an all new version of the ever popular Bill & Ted show that will take place in the Toon Lagoon theater. ScreamScape.com |
| 6-20-02 | The
calendar is up on the Universal
web site, and if you look at the calendar there are now
2 additional nights of HHN! (10/20 and 10/29). The dates were also
listed in the official press release, but until I went to verify
the dates I had posted I didn't notice the 2 additional dates. "ChainSaw
Wolf's yahoo chat" |
| 6-24-02 | One
of the spies at
ScreamScape.com claims to have seen this year’s
new mascot... something to go along with Jack or hopefully to replace
him. We’ve been given the name "Cindy" and it seems
she may look like an innocent little girl at first but evil lies
behind those eyes. |
| 7-11-02 | what we hear
is there starting the HHN auditions. UPDATE I did some
checking on the Audition dates. the ones posted on the ScreamTeam/Stilts
- Tuesday August 6 5:00pm and every Tuesday Singers/Dancers
- August 10-11 10:00am (singers) 1:pm (Actors) FYI the phone
numbers are: |
| 7-15-02 |
Well, we finally have some news kids!! It seems that this year’s
switch to IOA is considered a re-birth for the venue. This year’s
event will be called “Halloween Horror
Nights @ Islands of Adventure, Five Islands of Fear,”
and will not be yet another sequel to the 11 events past. This actually
marks the second name change in the history of this event, the first
year being entitled “Fright Nights.” Universal designers
are also changing the logo to suit the “new” name. On a down note, “The Thing,” which had been iffy from the start, has been scrapped, leaving 5 haunted houses and there will only be one show this year, and that will be Bill & Ted. I have to say, for as much as we have defended Universal over the past few months, and still have faith that “creatively” they have the talent to pull all off an awesome event, it sounds as if the money guys may be letting us down. For all of you that have written that you wanted to apply for a job @ HHN, competition may be stiff…. We hear they are looking to hire less actors and have less shows this year. We consider this bit of greed a slap in the face to their patronage (us!), considering they will already be saving on staff with the loss of the parade. And for those of you (like us) that plan on visiting on the off peak nights to AVOID waiting in line 2 hours for a house (risking NOT seeing them all), word also has it that all 5 mazes may not be running on low attendance nights. (Well, as “the Onceler” in Dr. Suesse’s “The Lorax” said, I guess it’s “Business is Business… and Business must grow…” Pity for the people who entered the entertainment business because they wanted to entertain.) We’ll keep you posted as these rumors progress. |
| 7-17-02 | Rumor has it that they have started
building something for the Haunt behind Dr. Doom. Anyone else see
this? ScreamScape.com |
| 7-21-02 | We
just received pictures from one of our sources who visited IOA this
past Friday. Word has been out about possible construction taking
place in the area near Dr. Doom. Pacing off the sides using the small flagged stakes for reference, they were able to calculate the area to be about 80’ by 55’, making an area of 4,400 square feet; AND, an additional 2,200 feet has been staked off in front of the trailer (forming an “L” shape). Already looking for the best case scenario, our source pointed out that if they wished to further expand this area by removing the trailers and squaring it off, they would have an area of 8,800 square feet, comparable to the size of the houses hosted in the sound stages in years past. We’ll let you know what else we dig up. (click here for the pics) |
| 7-25-02 |
Ever wonder just how one goes about getting a job at Halloween Horror
Nights? We did too, so we did a little snooping. The “hopeful” candidate scrambles around to find a good headshot in the days prior to the audition. They enter the room where they meet the directors and are given the motivation behind the various areas they are casting. (On a side note, David Clevenger, Creative Director for the original “Terror on Church Street” has been brought on board for the special effects in the mazes this year.) Word has it that the directors in charge of the mazes and scare zones are looking to go beyond the easy scare of rubber masks and loud noises, and that more effort will be put into the theme and “direction” of the scare areas. Look to the skies above you or you just may miss some of the action, as we hear that the rooftops are not off limits this year. Toon Lagoon will be crawling with “Tweaks and Foons” who will travel in pairs, if one presents a balloon to you, beware, another may be lurking nearby with a pin!! With motivation like this, how could the cast hopefuls NOT be psyched? (Sounds like a great deal of fun to us!!) Seated in the audition room in two rows of 5, the rows facing each other, they began the first of three parts to the audition. They wanted to hear your best yell or scream. A good way to start off as this part always tends to boost the energy of the room! Next…. Movement to eerie music. Each group of 5 was asked to move in a scary or evil manner to the music that was played. Might sound easy, but think about it, have you ever been to one of those really bad haunts where they just kind of “stroll” up to you? Not very effective. For the final part of the audition, one cast hopeful is picked to be the victim leaving the others to try to scare them, one at a time. Word has it that the energy of the auditions was amazing and we look forward to an event staffed with the best Universal has to offer. Good Luck everyone. |
| 7-27-02 |
An anonymous source just slipped this under our door, and then scurried
away into the shadows….. this is what we have so far of “Sindy”
this years hostess of “Halloween Horror Nights, Five Islands
of Fear.” It should be interesting to compare her to the finished
product at season’s end… how many pairs of Eddie’s
eyes did YOU see last year?( Sindy's
first draft ) Oh, and an update on the “mysterious dirt pile” near Dr. Doom…. This is the beginning of the “Maximum Carnage Maze.” And you all thought it was just a shed….. |
| 7-28-02 | Here
is some conflicting rumors that screamscape is reporting about "Sindy"
being on the chopping block, our sources have neither confirmed
nor denied this rumor . If this holds true , is it because of a
negative response toward this Icon? Screamscape
reports: Here is the latest gossip about what we can expect from
HHN this year. First off it seems that Cindy the mascot, our little
lost girl with a dark side, has been dumped in favor of something
new. Just as long as Jack is gone for good... new park, new theme.
Nuff Said. |
| 7-29-02 | Well,
it’s official. "SINdy" has been banished to the
Universal Archives where I suppose she can keep company with Eddie.
I’m beginning to think there’s a back-room somewhere
that’s beginning to look like Halloween’s “Island
of Misfit Toys.” . Once again, officials at Universal are taking the safe road in an effort to placate that masses. Due to the recent ration of child abductions being focused on by the media, the creative teams at Universal are being sent back to the drawing boards to design something a little less controversial. I suppose we can’t blame the company for going the safe route, big business really does not want the wrath of the media, but if we continue to let newscasts rule our entertainment industries, in a few years from the now, the icon will be about a really mean puppy. Dark Entertainment is about an escape from reality where we really DO have to worry about our children. These attractions provide an escape where we can feel the exhileration of the dangerous adventure, but know that we will come out ok on the other side. But I forgot, that’s rational thought, much more than we can expect from the public. We NEED mainstream society to guide us thru our daily lives, with a disgustingly hypocritical media and town meetings designed to provide the answers. Silly me. While the artwork for SINdy was not receiving rave reviews, most believed a little girl could not be scary, she had a story, and unfortunately it will not be realized, but shelved. Another creation never brought to life. Haunted children have long had a place in the horror genre, “The Omen’s” Damien, “The Exorcist,” “Children of the Corn,” “Pet Semetary,” and the list goes on…. And they are not scary to look at, it is the innocence we expect of children juxtaposed with these evil characters that we find chilling. It could have worked, but it required more than the “slasher flick” mentality, (which has it’s place, but I would hope that occasionally, we could rise above that to explore another level of the genre). |
| 8-05-02 | Here's
a small update on what's going on behind Dr. Doom seems they have poured the concrete pad for the building that will house the "Maximum Carnage" maze. like in past news on this topic, the building seems to be 80" x 55" making it 4,400sq. feet this is comparable to the size of the "Mummy" maze from last year (click here for the pics) |
| 8-07-02 | It
seems a new hideous Mascot has been found for this year’s
event. The super creep this time appears to be some kind of twisted
undead looking Morgue Doctor, complete with a Medical Bag full of
useful tools to determine the cause of death. From what we’ve
heard of the look of him, it just might be his bedside manor, or
would that be Dead-Side? ScreamScape.com
|
| 8-11-02 |  It's
being reported that sources at screamscape have uncovered the new
mascot / icon for this years "Halloween Horror Nights"...the "Caretaker"... is this it?will this be the final design?.... only time will tell... |
| 8-20-02 | The
latest report from our insiders is that work is starting to
pop up all over for the new haunts. Additional facades have been
added to the winding path of the Triceratops Encounter and black
walls have started to go up inside the Popeye queue area with “Set
Enhancement”signs. The new metal shed building behind Dr Doom
has formed for the Haunt (and will be kept for future storage use)
and Thunder Falls last day of service was said to be August 17th.
We’ve also heard a report that they were testing the Storm
Force ride after hours with loads of new strobes and fog machines.
ScreamScape.com |
| 8-21-02 | We just got some news from a new source on the new mascot, we were told his name is “Albert,” the Caretaker and where "Jack" had the catch phrase "No more clowning around" and last year Eddie/Jack had "I.C.U" seems "Albert's" will be “Your time has come.” |
| 8-25-02 | Want
to know the latest about this year’s Bill & Ted show?
From the sounds of it, the set will be a recreation of the MIB Headquarters,
complete with the “eggtron” screen and the Escape Tubes
seen in the sequel. We’ll gets to see a lot of the Scooby
Doo gang, Austin Powers / Dr Evil and crew and a heavy dose of the
Ozzy Osborn family. Plus if they can pull it off, we may see Spiderman
vs Green Goblin flying on his glider at one point. I wont give away
any more at this point, but it sounds like a great show. Meanwhile the Maze names appear to be finalized (for now) with only one change (ScreamHouse). It sounds like the Fear Factor maze will be a tie in to the hit NBC Show where you’ll view best of clips before you enter to perform your own “Stunt”. If you liked Pitch Black last year, then imagine a new version with a Fear Factor theme and voice overs to give you ideas about just what is in the dark with you. Also we’ve heard the theme of Maximum Carnage is a world where the evil Carnage has killed Spiderman and taken over the city. And all over the park it sounds like they’ll be moving away from the previous trend of squirt guns and using blasts of CO2 air instead all over the Islands of Fear.ScreamScape.com |
| 8-26-02 |  We
just got a report of an HHN billboard siting , we think on I-4 and
a new report that the "Caretaker's" name is "Alfred
Kane" (not Albert as reported in the past) |
| 8-26-02 | USF has posted the "Halloween
Horror Nights" website |
| 8-28-02 | A member
at
ChainSaw Wolf's yahoo chat has posted detailed info.
about whats going on at IOA at this time. |
| 9-7-02 | We just heard from sources at Universal that as of today Studio 666 will not take place in the Sinbad theater as has been reported but rather in the area outside of Dueling Dragons. For those of you still looking for a scare in the DD queue, you'll have to keep waiting, from what we understand, this will be in the area outside of the attraction, not within the walls. Apparently there are plans for an additional show to take place in Sinbad; however, there is no word as to what this show will be. |
All
opinions expressed on HauntFreaks.com© are solely the opinions
of the HauntFreaks.com staff who are in no way affiliated with any of the above mentioned parks, products or events. |
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