Halloween Horror Nights....Hollywood
When my Orlando friends found out I was leaving for California to work at [wait for it] Halloween Horror Nights, there was a shared laughter. Honestly, that was a ridiculous move, to go to California what I could have done in Orlando, with my friends, in my familiar setting, in better conditions, and with cooler stuff. But I decided I was done with Horror Nights...in Orlando...so it's totally cool that I'm doing it in Hollywood.
Anyway, since Orlando started the event, my friends over there were asking what it was like in Hollywood. The first big difference was that Hollywood started much later, so I had no idea. Once we started up, I noticed huge differences. Hollywood is still relatively new to Horror Nights. They act as if they just started it in 2006, because before that it was every once in a while. They've only been consecutive for the past four years. Because of that, there are far less things because they don't have the budget for it. They have four mazes (they're called mazes instead of houses), six scare zones, the Terror Tram (a Hollywood exclusive), the Bill and Ted Show, and they just added the Rocky Horror Tribute this year.
All in all it's a smaller event, which is both good and bad. They don't have a following like Orlando does, and going along with that, apparently nobody cares about the Bill and Ted show here. However, the lines are much shorter, and they're trying their hardest to be a big event, so the guest experience is probably very good. The make up is bigger here. There is a lot of prosthetic, and the traditional makeup as well, so the scareactors look impressive, until you add the fake blood to it. They need lessons on how to apply that. And finally, from what I've seen, the art direction of the whole event looks very nice. The houses mazes are pulled right out of the movies and look great, the set decoration in the streets looks great, but it's clear they don't have Kim Gromoll. It's good, but it's nothing special.
But all of that is being picky. Hollywood is doing a great job. It's apparent that they don't have the experience of Orlando, but they are trying just as hard, and succeeding.
The real difference, the one that matters in my opinion, is how it's run behind the scenes. When I check in I go to the Scare Base, an area of a parking garage set aside to be the hub where all is prepared for the night. They have a very organized system where to walk down a path to sign in, then move to the station where you pick up your costume which is tagged with your Profile Number, you change in the allotted dressing spaces with lockers off to the side if you want to use one, then you move to makeup, or masks if you need it, then continue to props, then you're in the break room where you can wait for the van to pick you up and take you either up or down to where you're working. Usually I chill out with my co-workers until I feel like going up to where our maze meets. In recent I've been going to the grill to grab dinner before we get started, but I learned I have to do it before 5, because they aren't twenty four hours and shut down in the two hour period when we would want it open the most. Around 6 my maze meets up just outside a gate to the park, with a lot of the other scareactors, and usually here a word from our SM that gets us pumped. Then we stand around for about half an hour wondering why we can't go in. But eventually we make our trek in, in full costume, with our personal items, in guest view, and head to our respective areas. Soon we realize we don't have much time to get ourselves ready before the house opens, so we head inside, and are soon surprised by our first guests.
Now the big difference, it works like this: in Orlando there is an A cast and a B cast, each one performing for forty-five minutes and breaking the other group. In Hollywood, only characters that there are one of in the maze or sreet have a single counterpart, the rest go on a rotating schedule, where there are the number of people needed, plus one. For example, in my Halloween Maze; there is a girl playing Annie in one of the rooms, she performs for half an hour and then goes on break while the other performs. There are two spots for the Lydia character, so one's in the first bedroom, one's in the second, one's on break. And then there are the eleven Micheals, who are broken up into three groups. In my groupI perform in the Windown, then in half an hour am given a break by a new Micheal, so I move on to Haddonfield and break that guy, who goes on to break the guy in the Laundry Room with Annie so he can go on his half hour break. In short, I perform for ninety minutes, and then go on break for thirty. I get to go through several different spots throughout the night, which makes it go by quicker, but each one gets more intense, and after 70 minutes I'm beat. And when it comes time for lunch I don't have enough time to go get it and eat it.
But one last thing... all those rumors about celebrities coming through the house. They're true here. I saw Rob Zombie with my own eyes. He loved it.
So you Orlando people can pass it along if you want, and be grateful for your twenty-four hour grill and forty-five minute breaks.
But I've been talking to my ASM about Grinchmas, which is very new to Hollywood, and I'm very excited for it. So I'll let you know what that's like in a few months.
Anyway, since Orlando started the event, my friends over there were asking what it was like in Hollywood. The first big difference was that Hollywood started much later, so I had no idea. Once we started up, I noticed huge differences. Hollywood is still relatively new to Horror Nights. They act as if they just started it in 2006, because before that it was every once in a while. They've only been consecutive for the past four years. Because of that, there are far less things because they don't have the budget for it. They have four mazes (they're called mazes instead of houses), six scare zones, the Terror Tram (a Hollywood exclusive), the Bill and Ted Show, and they just added the Rocky Horror Tribute this year.
All in all it's a smaller event, which is both good and bad. They don't have a following like Orlando does, and going along with that, apparently nobody cares about the Bill and Ted show here. However, the lines are much shorter, and they're trying their hardest to be a big event, so the guest experience is probably very good. The make up is bigger here. There is a lot of prosthetic, and the traditional makeup as well, so the scareactors look impressive, until you add the fake blood to it. They need lessons on how to apply that. And finally, from what I've seen, the art direction of the whole event looks very nice. The houses mazes are pulled right out of the movies and look great, the set decoration in the streets looks great, but it's clear they don't have Kim Gromoll. It's good, but it's nothing special.
But all of that is being picky. Hollywood is doing a great job. It's apparent that they don't have the experience of Orlando, but they are trying just as hard, and succeeding.
The real difference, the one that matters in my opinion, is how it's run behind the scenes. When I check in I go to the Scare Base, an area of a parking garage set aside to be the hub where all is prepared for the night. They have a very organized system where to walk down a path to sign in, then move to the station where you pick up your costume which is tagged with your Profile Number, you change in the allotted dressing spaces with lockers off to the side if you want to use one, then you move to makeup, or masks if you need it, then continue to props, then you're in the break room where you can wait for the van to pick you up and take you either up or down to where you're working. Usually I chill out with my co-workers until I feel like going up to where our maze meets. In recent I've been going to the grill to grab dinner before we get started, but I learned I have to do it before 5, because they aren't twenty four hours and shut down in the two hour period when we would want it open the most. Around 6 my maze meets up just outside a gate to the park, with a lot of the other scareactors, and usually here a word from our SM that gets us pumped. Then we stand around for about half an hour wondering why we can't go in. But eventually we make our trek in, in full costume, with our personal items, in guest view, and head to our respective areas. Soon we realize we don't have much time to get ourselves ready before the house opens, so we head inside, and are soon surprised by our first guests.
Now the big difference, it works like this: in Orlando there is an A cast and a B cast, each one performing for forty-five minutes and breaking the other group. In Hollywood, only characters that there are one of in the maze or sreet have a single counterpart, the rest go on a rotating schedule, where there are the number of people needed, plus one. For example, in my Halloween Maze; there is a girl playing Annie in one of the rooms, she performs for half an hour and then goes on break while the other performs. There are two spots for the Lydia character, so one's in the first bedroom, one's in the second, one's on break. And then there are the eleven Micheals, who are broken up into three groups. In my groupI perform in the Windown, then in half an hour am given a break by a new Micheal, so I move on to Haddonfield and break that guy, who goes on to break the guy in the Laundry Room with Annie so he can go on his half hour break. In short, I perform for ninety minutes, and then go on break for thirty. I get to go through several different spots throughout the night, which makes it go by quicker, but each one gets more intense, and after 70 minutes I'm beat. And when it comes time for lunch I don't have enough time to go get it and eat it.
But one last thing... all those rumors about celebrities coming through the house. They're true here. I saw Rob Zombie with my own eyes. He loved it.
So you Orlando people can pass it along if you want, and be grateful for your twenty-four hour grill and forty-five minute breaks.
But I've been talking to my ASM about Grinchmas, which is very new to Hollywood, and I'm very excited for it. So I'll let you know what that's like in a few months.