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The Catlady’s tchotchkes, Art’s “popcorn”, and Freddy’s…microphone?
55 Plays2 months ago
Part II of our Halloween Horror Nights 34 review is here! This week we're covering the scare zones, street experiences, shows, food & bev, and the overall experience at HHN. Find out the snacks to avoid and our fried favorites, plus why the Catlady has our heart and whether Nightmare Fuel is actually better this year (?). See you in the fog!
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Transcript
Episode Introduction: Thrills, Chills, and Spills
00:00:00
Speaker
i
00:00:09
Speaker
We're going to play a little game we call Spill the Tea. Hey
00:00:15
Speaker
everybody, welcome to Thrills, Chills, and Spills, where we spill the tea on all things theme parks, special events, and especially the best time of the year, spooky season. And I really feel like we are in it now.
00:00:28
Speaker
I'm Kelly. I'm Joey. I'm Tyler. And I'm Rafa.
HHN Recap: Scare Zones and Experiences
00:00:32
Speaker
And we are back today with part two of our HHN recap episode. Today we're going to cover everything pretty much except the houses, which we did in our last episode. So go back and listen to that if you haven't.
00:00:46
Speaker
But today we'll talk about scare zones and street experiences and the shows and food and beverage and just our impression of the event overall this year. So we'll start off today. We're actually going to rank up just like we did with the houses last episode.
00:01:02
Speaker
ah we totally skipped over your spill, huh? You want spill? That's a thing that we do. Joey has a spill. We have one spill. Pause on the HHN recap. but Go. What would an episode be without spills? Yeah.
00:01:16
Speaker
Um, so and none of us really had much of anything, but so I'm going to direct us to some roller coaster news. um Dollywood finally announced the project that they've been teasing for several months now that they've been visibly building in Wildwood Grove in the back of the park.
00:01:33
Speaker
There's this large building that has appeared and then what looks like roller coaster ish track appeared and everybody was kind of speculating and they basically confirmed that it is indeed a mock rocking boat.
00:01:45
Speaker
Ride, which is a blend of a water ride and a roller coaster. What makes it different from the existing mock water coasters is it's a new patent for the ride vehicle and it can actually free float.
00:02:00
Speaker
So when it goes into the water, it sort of raises above the track and then actually floats. So it's still technically attached to the track, but it kind of negotiates turns and will actually rock in the water and everything. um And there's some good video of the ah first installation in France at Futuriscope.
00:02:19
Speaker
And if it's actually pretty cool looking and also is definitely a legitimate roller coaster. If you see the the dry track sections of what it is, it it definitely looks like a roller coaster.
00:02:30
Speaker
um So I think it'll be really cool. It's going to be completely inside the building, which as before, we weren't sure if it might go outside at all, but they confirmed it's fully indoors. So that's good for Dollywood because they have a massive Christmas season and it'll be good to have another attraction that is, you know, warmer insulated from weather conditions.
00:02:53
Speaker
um but But my spill about it, to be honest, was that i don't like the name very much. They were calling it night flight expedition. And it just, it's a lot of syllables. I, maybe that's what is the my problem with it. Cause it's like three words and a lot of syllables for some reason, big bear mountain,
00:03:11
Speaker
Just works great. But night flight expedition is kind of a lot. I don't know. and I think it'll still be really cool. It like it looks like a ah good dark ride slash roller coaster type thing.
00:03:22
Speaker
Is this model that they were saying is supposed to be like the rumored Black Lagoon, ah Creature from the Black Lagoon ride? Certain people on Twitter are speculating that. I don't know that that's really... mean, we don't know if anything is really happening. It would be cool if they did that. Yeah. Yeah.
00:03:38
Speaker
It would be another roller coaster ish for epic. And I think it's a more thrilling way to do like, you know, a boat ride as opposed to just sort of ah a a free flowing type boat ride, you know, where there's not really drops or like more speedier moments in it because it says this goes up to like about 30 miles an hour, I think, which for a boat ride is, you know, faster than normal.
Dollywood's New Ride: Night Flight Expedition
00:04:03
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I think it looks great. That's definitely going to get me back to Dollywood. Same. Yeah, it's it's ah going to be a great addition, I think. I'm just really curious how that the theming aspects are going to be executed.
00:04:18
Speaker
But I'm glad they're leaning into the the dark ride aspect of it because it's specifically Night Flight and like their advertising is all showing glowing things in the dark. So they're they're they're definitely leaning into that aspect of it being enclosed and being in a dark building.
00:04:33
Speaker
I love Dollywood. I still need to go. we do. Now you're just going to wait until next year and then you can go I might as well just wait until next year. Yeah. I did want to try to go sometime next year, maybe in the fall, but now I have something else to look forward to.
00:04:48
Speaker
There you go. My kids can almost ride every coaster there. I think Amelia can. Oh yeah. Wild Eagle's 50. So, and everything else is 48. So. This is going to be 39. So like super inclusive.
00:05:02
Speaker
Yeah. A lot of their rides are. Cool.
Guest Appearance on Inverted Creative Podcast
00:05:05
Speaker
And I forgot have a quick little spill. My friends, our friends, Allison and Bryant and Jen over at the Inverted Creative Podcast had me on as a guest recently to talk about spooky season.
00:05:19
Speaker
So you should go check that episode out and all of their episodes. They started their podcast just a little bit before we did last year. So they're coming up on their one year anniversary and they cover everything.
00:05:31
Speaker
kind of the creative aspects of the theme park world and so it's an interesting it's an interesting twist on a coaster podcast if you're interested you probably already listened to them anyways but if not go check them out and thank you guys so much for having me on it was fun but back to hhn okay so we're going to first like we did last week with the houses we're going to rank up the scare zones and the street experiences together in a list of six um So we will start at the bottom with number
Ranking and Debating HHN Scare Zones
00:06:02
Speaker
six.
00:06:02
Speaker
My number six is Mel's Die in Zombies. As is mine. Same. Yep, me too. Okay.
00:06:14
Speaker
Number five. My number five is Origins of Horror. Mine is Club Horror. Mine is also Club Horror. And mine is Origins of Horror.
00:06:26
Speaker
okay Number four for me was Mutations Toxic 20s. Origins of Horror. Mine was Origins. And mine was Mutations.
00:06:37
Speaker
Rafa, we're twinning so far. It's about to end. I know, right? all right. My number three was Masquerade Dance with Death. So was mine. Mine was Mutations.
00:06:49
Speaker
And mine was Club Horror. Okay. My number two was Club Horror. Hot take. Yeah, very hot. My number two was ah Mutations Toxic 20s.
00:06:59
Speaker
My two was Masquerade. My two was Masquerade. So that leaves one scare zone for all our number one. All of us. And that was the cat lady of Crooked Lane. So we will get into talking about all of these.
00:07:14
Speaker
Now let's maybe talk about the street experiences first. Cause generally it looks like we ranked them a little bit lower. yeah i think in general, Oh my gosh. Okay. But I think in general, what, what did you guys think about them calling these things street experiences?
00:07:31
Speaker
Or like the addition. So for for those of you who don't know, typically, or at lily at least in the past couple of years, there have been five scare zones. This year, there are only four scare zones, but these two additional what they are calling street experiences.
00:07:45
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, in all fairness, the one near Fast and the Furious never really was too much of a scare zone. So yeah to me, it kind of made sense to try to transition it. And I think they were looking for a way to rebrand something that is out in the park, but not specifically intentionally supposed to be scaring you.
00:08:06
Speaker
And also to kind of, and um it kind of feels like a way for them to go a little bit lower budget on the scenic and stuff. Because particularly Mel's didn't really have anything scene-wise. Yeah, for they used Mel's, which is iconic.
00:08:21
Speaker
You got to get a picture with Mel's. But like, it was really just the scare actors there. That was like a scare zone light. Club horror is like its own thing. But I think... in my opinion, if it's going to make the four scare zones stronger than having like a week five scare zones, I am all for them continuing this trend. And I think it worked really well this year.
00:08:43
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I feel like, like, even like with Mel's die-in being so like, like, there's not, there's really not much to it besides some actors outside of the restaurant. Like, it's still like added to it. It's better than just having people like crowding around the restaurant because they're like waiting to like be seated or something. Like you have a bunch of actors walking around and they're still interacting with people. So I don't know. It adds more to it.
00:09:07
Speaker
I think another thing that it does is it makes the... They were talking so much about this year being, like, immersive. think, like, there is less dead space when you're walking. Obviously, if you're, like, cutting through, you don't run into one of these, like, street experiences or scare zones. But, like, in general, if you're walking the perimeter of the park, there's a lot more going on at all times. They also, like, had the clown chainsaw horde, like, over by like, the...
00:09:34
Speaker
like men in black Simpsons corner, which they didn't call a street experience or a scare zone, but it was just more filled. Like there was no dead space. Like there usually is there.
00:09:45
Speaker
So I think that's kind of a good thing. Yeah. I mean, it could have about Mel's it's, It's definitely better than not having anything. I do think it's odd to even call it a street experience, though.
00:09:56
Speaker
I feel like it's just it doesn't need a name. like i think It can be cool just to go to the restaurant you say, oh, cool, there's actors. But, I mean, the chainsaws in Springfield are more of a street experience.
00:10:07
Speaker
The roaming art is more of a street experience. So I think it's a weird classification they did. Yeah, because like... Yeah. The fact that they call males one, but not the chainsaw guys.
00:10:20
Speaker
Yeah. It's interesting. Cause they're about at the same level of what's happening. feel like It almost would be. a ton of categoriing for it Exactly. Like don't even an announce it or advertise it. Discover it.
00:10:31
Speaker
Cause it's kind of fun. Go to horror nights for the first time. im like, A lot of people that aren't familiar with the event and they've never gone before, like they don't really, they just expect to go and be scared anywhere in the park. So I feel like you don't really have to advertise that say, we have street experiences. Like just people are going in knowing that they're going to get scared anywhere in the park.
00:10:49
Speaker
So yeah don't know. Yeah, so we kind of meant talked enough about Mel's. I think the only other thing to say is I thought, this is like kind of picky, but I like the direction they went with the zombies with like the kind of like neon blue face paint rather than like the zombies that they used in like the Swamp of the Undead or whatever last year. Like the kind of like gruesome looking zombies. These were more like fun and it kind of matched Mel's like neon-y vibe.
00:11:18
Speaker
ah liked that about it I liked the roller skates. I liked the stuff that they had on the platters. Like it was cute. There just like, wasn't a lot of scare actors. It was kind of scarce. And then the other street experience was club horror in San Francisco. and that was kind of like, there's a DJ and there's some music different than the typical HHN music playing. And then they had like go-go dancers up on blocks, a couple of them with like creepy masks on.
00:11:46
Speaker
Yeah. It doesn't sound like much, does it? So yeah. Maybe explain a little bit. Okay. I loved it. I love a dance moment.
00:11:57
Speaker
Like I could go in there and watch those girls dance for a long period of time and be content and dance myself. If i was partaking in alcohol, which I did not, but I just like, it's so different and unique. Like I, it's not meant to be scary, but it's like,
00:12:15
Speaker
It's like a good vibe. And I feel like, yeah don't get me wrong, like the scare zones are good, but I feel like a lot of them start to feel very similar to what I've seen before. And this was just like really unique and different.
00:12:26
Speaker
And that's why like it. Yeah, I think that's my thing. I feel like it's just because I appreciate like what it is like. It doesn't have to be anything scary. It doesn't have to be the most like overly themed area.
00:12:38
Speaker
But I don't know. I feel like they had a lot of energy in there, like with the lights and the fog and the music. And they had that whole little like loungy area by the Fast and Furious key um exit.
00:12:50
Speaker
So I don't know. I feel like that was kind of neat to see because we don't see that at Horror Nights very often. And like Kelly was saying, I feel like some of these zones they kind of start to morph into one another. Like, even though most of us, I think most of us, um, ranked masquerade pretty high.
00:13:06
Speaker
i also do feel like we have seen that scare zone before. Like, I don't, I like, it was fun, the energy in there and you know, the actors were great, but it just feels like something we've seen before.
00:13:18
Speaker
So I don't know. i feel like with club horror, like it was something different. And even though it's like very minimal, it was still like a good time. i think. I think the footprint was maybe part of what hurt it for me because I do think it's a cool idea actually to have a like a DJ situation in the park.
00:13:36
Speaker
I almost wish that it was longer like it had more lights and more dance like stretched out a little bit further because it felt like a very compact little square and that might have been just for like crowd control reasons or security reasons or whatever. But um I think it would be could be cool if it was even bigger.
00:13:55
Speaker
I enjoy it I mean, know I love a DJ and dancers and lights and good vibes through there, but I disagree with saying it's unique. I think every haunt event ever has something like that. I mean, Busch Gardens Tampa has one. Busch Gardens Williamsburg has one.
00:14:11
Speaker
Kings Dominion used to have one. I don't think they do anymore, but... It's not a unique concept. I do think it's better than whatever crap they used to call a scare zone there or just having nothing at all. And I love the vibe, but it's not unique.
00:14:28
Speaker
It's unique for HHN though. It's unique. Yeah. It's unique to the event. Okay. Well, those are the street experiences. We'll talk about our impressions of the scare zones. Let's start in the beginning. And that was the origins of horror entrance scare zone.
00:14:47
Speaker
What did you guys think about this? Better than usual for an entrance. yeah here Oh yeah, for sure. i think so. And it was nice to see them finally use that, like more of that street. I feel like they normally stop it like pretty early on.
00:15:01
Speaker
Um, And I thought it was pretty cool how they had those like, um those like little statues of each of like the IPs. um That looked really cool. um It's just, I think it's just lower on the list because there really isn't too much to it. It's the most, I guess, simple zone out of the four.
00:15:23
Speaker
um But it was still, it was still a lot better than what we've had before in the front of the park. Yeah, for sure. I mean, it it had an aspect of storytelling to it, which I think last year it was literally the icons on top of the truss and a couple scare actors. And at least they were trying to tell a story in that zone, which was nice. And I thought the, you know, like they did some interesting stuff there. Like they had the Raven character on stilts who is kind of harassing people. And that was funny.
00:15:50
Speaker
um And there was a gargoyle and... It was it still felt, you know, as ah as a good way to sort of tie the event together, which is kind of how they advertise it with, you know, the different IPs represented and this kind of aesthetic from El Artista kind of coming over.
00:16:07
Speaker
And the gargoyle was like literally the same exact costume as the El Artista gargoyle to like they really. Yeah, they really did a good job with that. Yeah, I think the statues are a good touch.
00:16:19
Speaker
um If you're not you know coming into the event somewhat blind, you can sort of see what they have there as you walk through the entrance, which I think is a great idea. But yeah, that scares are never is great to me, but it's better than it's been in a while.
00:16:36
Speaker
Let's move on to mutations. We're going kind the same direction we went when we talked about the houses mutation toxic twenties, which was in New York. What did you guys think about that?
00:16:48
Speaker
There are a lot of actors. Yeah, there are a lot. And the space still feels too big for it. I don't know. Like it just, it's still like, and you would like, I feel like you can feel like, I feel like,
00:17:01
Speaker
it feels like there are more actors in some of the smaller zones, even though there aren't just because of how much closer, like the space is like how much tighter it is. i don't know. Here's just, it's too wide. I think I just don't like this area as a scare zone to be That was going to be my exact take is it's just just, don't like it. I don't like it. It's never going to be scary through there just based on how wide it is.
00:17:24
Speaker
Yeah. The first night I was there, I counted when I walked through one time, I think it was like 28 scare actors from one end to the other, which is
Highlights of Classic and Unique Scare Zones
00:17:34
Speaker
incredible. Like that's awesome for a scare zone. But I did not get scared once because you see them coming from a mile away. There's nowhere to hide except for maybe a couple props.
00:17:45
Speaker
But it's just that area just is never going to be scary as a scare zone, as much as I do love the theming for it. Yeah, I mean, I agree that it's it didn't really bring the scares. I think I just liked the the theme and the idea of it better than Masquerade, which is why I had it above it comparatively.
00:18:04
Speaker
um But yeah, the space is definitely a challenge. I think they could do some things to make it more claustrophobic and make it a little bit tighter. But i wonder just because that's such a main thoroughfare to get from the main sound stages to the rest of the park.
00:18:21
Speaker
I think they don't want to do that just for crowd control and crowd flow. Yeah. So I get it. And like they do flood the zone with the scare actors as a way to try to combat that, I guess. Because I mean, it's impossible to go through that area without seeing multiple like and even having interactions with at least one, even if you don't get scared by them, you know, ah you at least are approached by someone.
00:18:45
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I do appreciate i did appreciate the the project, the projection that they had on the on the building. They had like that green stuff coming out.
00:18:55
Speaker
um That looked really cool. So I did appreciate that. Like, I know they did that a while ago and I was like kind of waiting for them to do something similar to that. So it was nice to see them bring it back. I like the portal thing, too.
00:19:07
Speaker
Like, yeah, yeah, there was kind of a little entrance to the zone. That was fun. That was pretty cool, too, which they I haven't seen that in that area either. um And I just, I don't know, I feel like also, like you said, like, I feel like as for like crowd control, it's kind of complicated, um especially when you have the mummy there as well, which people are going into, then you have like that, that like path of that takes you to like all the food vendors as well.
00:19:33
Speaker
It's just it's kind of complicated to like make it into something more than what you know, than what they do with it already. Yeah, I pretty much agree with everything you guys said I think to their credit, I think they leaned a little bit more into this zone being campy than scary, which I think is the better play for that area because of how vast the space is. And I think like, obviously they put a lot of scare actors in there, but I think what, what this zone needs, this, this area needs as a zone is like big set pieces and, and,
00:20:08
Speaker
you know, not to disrupt the flow of the crowd. But I think like last year, they had some like larger stage set pieces when it when it was torture fair. And I didn't like love that scare zone. I think I like the idea of this one actually more. It just, I don't know, it like didn't really hit. I listened to the story on the podcast. So I kind of knew what was going on.
00:20:28
Speaker
don't think you had to know what was going on. It was just all of the characters were so different that it was like, sometimes hard to pick up on what was going on. Like there was like the lady with the baby carriage and then there's like the mobster and then there's like the guy working for buzz con. And I think they did,
00:20:44
Speaker
a good job of like keeping it twenties. It felt like a New York scare zone. Like they did a good job choosing, choosing that location for something that would make sense for New York. They played the 1920s music, which I loved.
00:20:57
Speaker
I thought all of the intricate set design pieces were really nice. Like during the daytime, when you walk through, you can like really appreciate that more, but like when it's dark, you don't really like see any of that stuff. So it's kind of just like,
00:21:10
Speaker
they did a really good job with like little details, but that kind of stuff gets lost in such a big area, especially when it's dark. So I don't know, pros and cons to it. I love the green goo.
00:21:23
Speaker
i think they did. They did a good job with what they can do in that space. I just, I think it's always going to be tough there. Yeah. And you're right. I did love the variety of,
00:21:35
Speaker
different actors and characters. I mean, that's one thing that that area has always done well is just having regular looking people that are supposed to be the victims. And then you're looking at them, you're like, is that a guest?
00:21:49
Speaker
Do they work here? so I love that part of it. They always do that well in that zone. All right. And going around the circle to all of our favorite scare zone, Cat Lady of Crooked Lane.
00:22:02
Speaker
i have many thoughts. I wrote them down. say them? So think the biggest thing about this zone that kind of like initially before you even really experience it is is enticing is and we've talked about this before, the classic Halloween vibes.
00:22:20
Speaker
There is orange in this scare zone. The pumpkins in the trees look fantastic. They always have, they always will. There is a ton of like tchotchkes and like little knickknacks everywhere that are like classic Halloween and that's displayed really well and it just gives like a really good classic like almost like 90s feel I don't know if it's just because I trick-or-treated in the 90s or what but I just like it just really feels nostalgic before it even feels scary and I love that and then I loved the progression of the story if you
00:22:56
Speaker
Yeah. is a pro and a con. So if you go from the Hollywood side and go through it as it's meant to be experienced, it's a really cool story where initially the scare actors are more like the kids trick or treating. And then as you get closer and closer to the cat lady's house, they become more and more cat like.
00:23:14
Speaker
um And then, you know, there's like her house and all of the like fully cat scare actors and the little cat hut wooden thing that you can walk through is really cool.
00:23:25
Speaker
I think if you're walking through it the first time the opposite direction, it's a little like more confusing. like I feel like it's best experience going that one direction, which is kind of and i not ideal. and And I think my only other major con is I love that they have the little extension with the cat lady house and the little like performance she does when she comes out.
00:23:49
Speaker
I didn't expect her to be so Southern. um and it just draws such a crowd. Like there is a semi circle of people there at all times. And it's kind of hard to get through there, even when she's not out people just waiting for her to come out. So that's not really ideal either. I thought the scare actors were great here. at The design of the cats and like the kids morphing into cats is really well done.
00:24:12
Speaker
um Yeah, I just I like the vibe in there. In general, I always love Central Park as like a zone most of the time. Like I just feel like it's the trees and kind of how claustrophobic it feels.
00:24:25
Speaker
In contrast to the New York scare zones. i I like that a lot more. I feel like that's more scary. And I think they picked a great um theme for the zone this year.
00:24:36
Speaker
So that's why I had it my favorite. Yeah, I i love the like we were saying, like the progression, like when you're going down, you see like the story as you're walking down when you're walking, you know, when you're entering through the correct side.
00:24:49
Speaker
um But I feel like this is like the closest that we can get to like something that's very like a scare zone that's very close to a house. And I can see them possibly making this into a house in the future.
00:25:00
Speaker
um Just because it's there's so much to the story. And like I don't know. i feel like the way that they had this set up felt like an outdoor haunted house almost. Like you're going out. You see the way that the story begins. There's like a beginning, middle, and end with that add-on little like experience at the end where you can like have like a little mini haunted house experience, which was really cool.
00:25:18
Speaker
I don't know. I feel like overall they they killed it with this one. This one's really good. Yeah. There's not really much else to say. um I'm curious to see if that idea of creating... an even more narrow hallway like they did with the the cat hutches, for lack of a better word.
00:25:34
Speaker
They kind of put it between some trees that were already there and they they built in this sort of corridor of wood and you could walk through it and there were actual like scare acting attempts in there, like jump scare types, ah things in there, which is very unusual for the scare zones that I've seen at HHN at least. And it was very interesting to see that.
00:25:56
Speaker
It did feel quite experimental. i agree. It's like, for sure. Let's try this little thing. And I liked it. Yeah. And the stage too. Like I'm calling it a stage because that's what was happening. Like the cat lady was doing this performance as part of it.
00:26:09
Speaker
So you had, you know, the traditional like roaming Sierra actor part, which is always the best in that area because it's darker and it's more claustrophobic and narrower. And then you have this kind of experimental hallway, for lack of better word, with Scare Actors.
00:26:24
Speaker
And then you have this stage performance storytelling thing. It really had everything. You also had the storytelling with the actual pages from like the book in the zone. Yeah. It was great.
00:26:38
Speaker
um Yeah, you guys pretty much said it all. Only thing I have to add is, Kelly, I like your use of the word Chotsky. I've never heard that word in my life. i had to Google it.
00:26:49
Speaker
I've never heard that before. That's the perfect word to describe what's going on in there. There's Chatskis everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. Especially there during the day. You notice that more if you walk through. You can see all of the... I'm glad you've also heard the word, Joey, because I just panicked that I am old for a second. I'm like, oh, no, my age is showing amongst the podcast.
00:27:09
Speaker
It says it means knick-knack. I know what knick-knack means. I've never heard Chotsky before. My dad would say that all the time. yeah Yeah, definitely like got it from my grandparents and it just continued.
00:27:22
Speaker
But um yeah, I'm glad that one lived up to the hype because we all had a our number one on our hype list, I think, too, if I remember correctly. Yeah. yeah But it's not a surprise.
00:27:33
Speaker
Yeah. that's Not a surprise. All right. And then our last scare zone was Masquerade Dance with Death. What did you guys think of Masquerade? Vampires dancing at a ball.
00:27:47
Speaker
Right? That's the vibe. I got some pretty good scares in here, actually. Just didn't see some of them coming, but i thought it was fun overall. But like I said earlier, um I mean, put it up there because I feel like the theming was very, it was very fun. And I feel like the actors were very energetic in there as well.
00:28:04
Speaker
um And they have it pretty like, it's kind of dark in there. I don't know. i feel Maybe that's how they got me so many times in there. um So that's why I have it higher. um But again, i this kind of feels, especially with that center piece that they had there, reminded me of,
00:28:21
Speaker
the zone from last year. What was, what was it called last year? The demon Queens, demon Queens. There we go. Like that. It was like almost like the same exact setup. So I don't, know I felt a little too close to last year's scare zone, but I mean, it was still a great scare zone.
00:28:35
Speaker
It was a lot of fun. Yeah. I don't completely disagree. i feel like the theme isn't the most unique, but I still really enjoyed it. I do feel like it's definitely more intricate than a demon Queens was.
00:28:48
Speaker
There's more detail everywhere. Um, I do feel like I need to spend some more time here. I think I maybe walked through it twice and we really didn't stop very much.
00:28:59
Speaker
Um, so I'd like to spend, you know, another five or seven minutes in here and sort of watch the, the little show element. And I've seen videos, you know, they have couple stages and they actually have the you know, the action pedals and stuff for scares on the stages, which is great.
00:29:16
Speaker
And they don't always have those in scare zones. So, um, Yeah, I just want to spend spend some more time in there, I think. Yeah, I think this one and Origins both suffer from location because especially if you're doing stay in Scream and you're already in the park, it you don't necessarily even have to go through those areas at all to get to the houses.
00:29:36
Speaker
um So you have to make an effort to go through them. And then a lot of times you're just going from one place to another, not necessarily like trying to spend time. but so but Yeah, I thought the chandelier in the middle was really cool. It, as others have said, it's felt a little bit derivative and like I've seen this kind of thing before, but I thought the costumes were really well done.
00:29:55
Speaker
um They had some unique ones and it was fun how um it extended a little bit past the edges of the scenic. Like they had scare actors both on either end towards Mel's and at the front of the park, both sides kind of extending past it, which caught me off guard a little bit because I was like, oh, it's over. And then there was like, just kidding.
00:30:14
Speaker
There's a couple more floating around. And that was kind of nice. Yeah, I don't have much to add. It was kind of in the middle for me. I do need to spend more time here as well. I think the biggest impression was just that it was like,
00:30:25
Speaker
the sets were really beautiful. Like I love a lit up like string light moment. And the chandelier kind of reminded me of like, you know, you sit outside in the fall, like around a fire and you have like string lights up. Like it just, ah kind of gave that like eerie, but like beautiful vibe. um I didn't really pay attention to a lot of the detail. Although one time walking through, I saw that they were like serving up a body in one of their like side side stage things.
00:30:54
Speaker
So I need to look more into like that detail. I think they had like a ah fountain of like champagne glasses with like blood. um That was pretty cool. But I agree. Like I think it feels similar to demon Queens. Like it's like about the fashion and like coming together. And that's kind of the same, the same vibe. But I do think it was done a little bit better and a little bit more visually like appealing and stunning this time around.
00:31:21
Speaker
Cool. We will now move on to the shows. Did anyone see the Lagoon show?
Shows and Events: Lagoon and Nightmare Fuel
00:31:30
Speaker
No. From different parts of the park.
00:31:32
Speaker
Nope. Same. And honestly, I didn't care. I heard it get canceled at some point. Yep. They played an announcement that said the 1030 or whatever show is canceled.
00:31:45
Speaker
I don't know what that was about, but. I think depending on crowd levels next time, I will probably try to catch it just because I'm interested in what it's like. um yeah But yeah, on your first visit, that's not exactly a priority.
00:31:57
Speaker
Yeah. So we can't really comment on it at all. ah But we all did. We also. Yeah. Right. No, not. No. Really? Oh, that's right. Your family didn't go.
00:32:11
Speaker
Yeah, my family decided, like, when we went on Saturday, the whole time, i'm like, all right, we're going to get watch it on Saturday. And then they were like, we don't like shows. And i'm like, what? ah like yeah after trying I'm sure you'll go this weekend. but yeah This weekend, I will definitely, you know, watch both of them.
00:32:26
Speaker
Well, at least Nightmare Fuel. Yeah. So the rest of us saw Nightmare Fuel, Circus of Decay. i actually saw it twice when I was there the first weekend. What did you guys think about this iteration Honestly, they all blend together a little bit for me, especially when it's the same song every year, you know, like to get everybody hyped up. And then it started the exact same.
00:32:52
Speaker
i was a little nervous about that. i'm like, oh, my gosh, is this the exact same show? They changed almost nothing. But then obviously it deviated from there. But you know why they do that, though? Because people have recurring nightmares.
00:33:06
Speaker
Right. Yeah. So like that's part of the theme, I think. I agree with you. I was like, whoa. Yeah. Once I watched it, I understood it a little bit better. It it really fits with the theme. But um the parts that stick out for me were the contortionist. That was absolutely insane.
00:33:24
Speaker
Like that guy was incredible. I follow him on on Instagram now. Oh, really? oh yeah. Yeah. I was just like squirming in my seat watching that. That's crazy.
00:33:35
Speaker
And then I felt like there was more fire and less magic. Do you guys feel like that's true? Definitely yeah less magic. Yeah. So I don't know. I don't know if it sticks out too much over last year or the year before, but I think it was at least just as enjoyable and I always love watching it.
00:33:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think the contortionist was a standout because as a circus act, it's different than what they've done before. And I can always appreciate that. Like if you're going to have kind of a similar vibe every year to throw in, you know, different stuff like that is really nice because the aerial acts are really cool. But again, those blend together. Like I don't remember.
00:34:18
Speaker
one year to the other, specifically what they did. um i mean, it's cool, but it's not like, you know, as distinguishable as something like the, um like the contortion act. And I hope they continue to like find new ways to, to incorporate different acts like that.
00:34:36
Speaker
That could be fun. I don't know how I get how exactly I feel about it. It's it's definitely still a little bit overwhelming for me. And I think one of the things that makes me enjoy it ah less than i would otherwise is the soundtrack, because I personally don't listen to that kind of music and it all sounds the same to me.
00:34:57
Speaker
um And so the lack of familiarity is that heavy metal? Like, is that what that vibe is? I don't know. I don't know. yeah It was a variety. They had some pop. They had some metal.
00:35:08
Speaker
Yeah, I guess it was like remixes of like popular songs. Maybe that's what it is because it it all sounds very like high energy and aggressive to me. And I'm like not pulling the melodies out that I would might recognize.
00:35:22
Speaker
And I think that's part of like why it it doesn't hook me as much. And I kind of wish they would throw something a little bit more. I don't know. I don't want to say mainstream, but I don't know. Yeah, something a little more melodic into the mix. And that would that would poke me in a little bit more.
00:35:39
Speaker
um But it's still it's it's really cool. Like it's the fire effects and the acrobatics and everything. and It's it's a neat show. I don't think it's like, oh, my God, this is so much different and better than last year.
00:35:50
Speaker
i think it's better just with the addition of the contortionist. He adds a lot to this year. Yeah. By the way, I just thought of a spill. So let me know when is a good time to say it.
00:36:01
Speaker
Okay, let me finish Nightmare Fuel and then and then you can spill. um I actually loved Nightmare Fuel this year. i feel like it is a lot better than the past couple years and maybe I was just paying more attention and I was less tired because the first time we saw it was not in a run of trying to get all the houses done. It was like kind of a chiller night.
00:36:22
Speaker
And I agree, the contortionist was great. i really appreciated that tiny little girl who usually goes up on the thing and spins by her hair did not spin by her hair this year. That always stresses me out. I'm like, all the things I'm like, please, Oh my God, don't snap your neck. I'm sure they, she knows what she's doing, but it gives me anxiety the entire time she's hanging by her hair. And she was not so sorry if you didn't go yet.
00:36:49
Speaker
Spoiler alert. She's not hanging by her hair. um i am just a dance girly. I grew up, I'm sure I've talked about this before. I grew up doing competition dance for very many years of my life. And i can tell that these dancers are super well-trained and very good at what they do. And a lot of the music reminds me of like dance competition. And I just love that. Like i you could remove everything else and just make it a dance show. And I would love it just the same. i think adding the extra stuff on, um,
00:37:18
Speaker
like the fire with the fuel girls who I also follow on Instagram. If you guys don't, you should, cause they're super interesting. Um, and the contortionist and the acrobatics,
00:37:29
Speaker
I just, I just really love it. And it has a good ending this year. And I i think this is the first year that like I willingly wanted to and look forward to seeing the show multiple times. Like I saw it twice. I've never seen it twice. And I plan on seeing it again this weekend if I have time to. So my poor mother is going to be shocked by some of this. mean too I need to give her a little prep.
00:37:54
Speaker
She saw it two years ago, right? Yeah, but I feel like this year is like a little... Yeah. Yeah. The two girls on the... Yeah. yeah together Yeah. little sexier than normal.
00:38:07
Speaker
I love watching that show with like first timers. Like the first time, I think it was the first year, maybe the second year. Remember they had that trick in the very beginning where like the somebody goes to bed and then all of a sudden the girl comes out under the sheet.
00:38:22
Speaker
I don't know if you remember that scene or whatever. Yeah, that would throw me off two years in a row. Like I still couldn't figure it out. I'm how are they doing that? But with every new person, like they would be just as shocked. And it's like my my favorite thing to watch.
00:38:36
Speaker
Yeah, I love the magic parts of it. That's some of that my for the show. So it's kind of a bummer to hear that there's not as much magic, but they got to change it every year. So I, you know, they can't have it be ah like identical.
00:38:47
Speaker
So, you know, every other year. Highly recommend though. If you're going to HHN and you've never seen nightmare fuel, like you should see it. It is a ah very good show. Yeah.
00:38:57
Speaker
I think if you have only one night, still try to fit it in. I think it you should make it a priority if you can. It's worth missing a house. Cause you're not going to love every single house anyway. So especially five nights at Freddy's. Yeah. yeah Honestly.
00:39:13
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Moving on to food and beverage. Wait, let me do my favorite things. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Okay, this is probably unpopular.
00:39:24
Speaker
The nightmare fuel ushers with their little batons at the beginning, hyping the crowd up. I don't like it. I think it is. I think you are not the only person that thinks that.
00:39:37
Speaker
Everybody seems love it. I think it's cringy. I conflate it with like, you know, when you're at a presentation or whatever, and they're like, how's everybody doing? And then everybody's kind of quiet. They're like, I said, how's everybody doing? it That's how it feels to me.
00:39:51
Speaker
it' just like It's artificial hype. They're like, this is my time to shine. Like I have a choreographed dance step touch step touch for the entire three minutes of welcome to the black parade but that's the thing i don't think i would mind it as much if it was better choreographed like i feel like it's just different people every night and they just shove them out there like hey wave your baton around a little bit and get the
00:40:22
Speaker
crowd hype. I don't think they even tell them to do it. I think that this is, they're like, okay, the crowd's here. It's time to go. Everyone's going to watch move this baton around. I don't know. I don't like it.
00:40:34
Speaker
I don't like it either. It's almost so cringy though, now that I'm like excited to see how awkward it I'm like, what are they going to do this time?
00:40:46
Speaker
Yeah. It's mandatory fun. Yes. Great. I don't like mandatory fun. I want to have fun on my time.
00:40:57
Speaker
Oh, we should we should do Scott's question. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Scott had a question about Nightmare Fuel. He said, Nightmare Fuel can be polarizing within the HHN community. What have been your favorite versions over the years?
00:41:11
Speaker
What do you think the event could benefit from regarding this, a change to this, or other non-Maze scare zone entertainment options? Am I having a stroke? I don't know what's happening.
00:41:25
Speaker
I'm like, did I read that wrong? Okay, let's break this down here. Should they change the show significantly or change other things that are non-health-based? This year was my favorite version of Nightmare Fuel, to answer the first question. i don't know that you guys agree, but for me, for sure.
00:41:42
Speaker
I think it was the first year that I saw it, but that might just be from the novelty of it. Yeah, I don't know if I can pick a year. They all kind of just blend together in my head.
00:41:54
Speaker
I would love if they kept it nightmare fuel. I get why it's the name, but like really change up the theme. Like we need something different. Yeah. Something different.
00:42:04
Speaker
Or even if they called it nightmare fuel and it wasn't about a nightmare, like just still keep the title that and then have a little add on for whatever it is about. Like it just needs keep the show very similar. Like I love all the stuff they do in the show. I just, um I'm done with the circus.
00:42:21
Speaker
I'm done with the circus. Yeah, I feel like they finally found like a show that they can keep in the event for, you know, year after year. This is probably the longest show they've had ever since Bill and Ted um back in the day. So like it's it's nice to see that they have that with, you know, with this show, but they do need to kind of change it up a little bit like story wise, like make it different. Like I start to like blend all of these years into one.
00:42:49
Speaker
Like I, I last year was a circus theme for the first time, but prior to that, I feel like the first two shows were very similar to one another as well. Yeah. so i I mean, they have a great group of performers who could pull off anything, utilize them, but maybe change up, change up the premise of the show.
00:43:09
Speaker
In terms of other shows, I'd love to see a magic show. I think magic is sort of inherently spooky and it would fit in so well there. Or like ah maybe not necessarily magic, but like an illusionist type show, something along those lines.
00:43:24
Speaker
And they yeah have places they could do it, like in the the Pets Theater or something. You know, they could have a show back there. Or have it even, they could even make it less like a show and have like street performers doing that kind of stuff.
00:43:38
Speaker
Make that a street experience. Yeah, I think they're they're running out of space a little bit for something like that. Something that's going to draw a crowd of more than, you know, 30 or 40. But yeah, I think that'd be cool. I just, I'm not sure how it would work logistically.
00:43:54
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I know you just said get rid of the circus, but I think that could be ah that could kind of work as a scare zone in the future, which was is more of a street experience. But like, you know how they do the, you know, like the wooden stage with the like the circus tent fabric and stuff. And then you have like a fire eater and a sword swallower and like some kind of weird animal guy. I'm for that. yeah Like circus freak style, but it's like actually a show, not just a scare zone, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
00:44:23
Speaker
But short, you know, like 15 minutes. I think that could be kind of cool. Yeah. Food and beverage ready? Let's do it. All right.
00:44:35
Speaker
I can start because I have a list already up. um So the things that I tried...
Food Reviews: Hits and Misses at HHN
00:44:43
Speaker
And I guess a lot of these go for Tyler too, because we shared a lot, but um the mozzarella stick at the Cursed Carnival, is that what it was called? Cursed Carnival booth?
00:44:54
Speaker
um It was called like a freakishly long or extra long something mozzarella stick. I don't have the actual names written down, but I had this death by cheese stick or something. Oh, death by cheese stick. Yeah. Freakishly long was about the corn dog, which I didn't eat, but I had the mozzarella stick twice. So the first night we went, I was kind of bummed when they handed it to me because it looked really like small and flat compared to some of the other like real juicy looking ones that were in there. And I was like, Oh, darn, I kind of got gypped. But it was delicious. Like the spicy marinara was the star of the show is such a good marinara.
00:45:29
Speaker
The ratio of the breading to the cheese was so good. I was so excited to get it again. which two nights later I did. and I got a real fat, juicy one. And I was less impressed. I felt like there was too much like paprika or like some type of whatever seasoning they used on it. And then there was far too much cheese. Like it was almost much too much almost too much for me to eat the whole thing.
00:45:54
Speaker
Um, Yeah. And I only got to experience round two, which we all got ours at the same time for that. So it was good, but not great. The ratio was just off. You needed a little bit more breading, a little bit less cheese.
00:46:08
Speaker
And the cheese honestly wasn't even like that melty, I feel like for a mozzarella stick. Yeah. So I guess not my advice, if you get this death by cheese stick is if you see a flatter looking one, a less plump stick, that would be the one I would go with.
00:46:25
Speaker
Yeah. The cheese pole was pretty great though. That was, yeah it was really good. I rated these out 10, all the things I tried and I gave this a seven. Seven's fair.
00:46:36
Speaker
I think, I mean, it's a cheese stick. I love a cheese stick, though. Yeah, it's funny because I've been talking to Caleb because we're meeting up with Caleb you know on Friday. And we've been talking about like, this is going to be our game plan, like how we're going up all the houses. And all he cares about is his cheese stick.
00:46:51
Speaker
This is all I care about. Like, this is this is what I'm looking forward to. I'm like, all right. Caleb, I hope you're listening before you get there. Hopefully you are. don't know when this is going be live. But get a smaller, skinnier looking cheese stick.
00:47:08
Speaker
which is yeah totally possible because they just hand it to you. But well, I'm sure you can ask if you're like, I can, I have that one. Yeah. Sometimes they have like all of them. lay on floor Like, Hey, can I get that one instead?
00:47:19
Speaker
yeah They don't care. The second thing I tried was the, it was from the, I think fallout booth. It was the Buffalo chicken dip with the fried pickles.
00:47:34
Speaker
Um, this was the flavor wise and taste wise. This was excellent. My gripe with it was the pickles are not pickle chips. They're pickles fears. So when you bite into it, the like breading pretty much falls off. So you're just like eating a pickle or eating the breading.
00:47:50
Speaker
And then the amount of dip that they give you is far too much for the um number of pickles they give you. So you're left with just like, a bunch of buffalo chicken dip with nothing to eat it with.
00:48:02
Speaker
I think chips, but like the chip fried pickles would have been better for this and for dipping. I gave this a six out of 10 because of it, but it did taste very good. You can eat the remainder of the buffalo chicken dip with your fingers if you want.
00:48:18
Speaker
Yes, you can. That's exactly what I did. Did you guys have that? No. Anybody else? No. Okay, I had the, um the I forget what it was called. what was the Do you remember what the bread thing with the tomato on top was called?
00:48:37
Speaker
It was from the Artista booth. ah No, I had it pulled up earlier. It is called Ancon Tomate. Okay. No, tomato bread. That makes sense. Yeah, tomato bread. Literally.
00:48:49
Speaker
This wasn't great for me. It was, i guess what I was expecting was something similar to the eggs in the further last year, but it was just like a piece of garlic bread with like cold, it was served cold. It was like cold tomato, like almost like a bruschetta of vibe.
00:49:05
Speaker
And it just wasn't what I was expecting. rated this a three out of 10 would not get again. i just, yeah. Yeah. I actually liked it a lot. I think the taste was good.
00:49:16
Speaker
I think you said it was kind of like an adult Lunchable. Yeah. was but I think it was good. The only reason I would not get it again is the price. I mean, this is literally two bites worth of food. And I think it was $7.99. Yep.
00:49:33
Speaker
yep Not good bang for your buck at all. No. You think it's going to be like a full... It's not even like really a normal size slice of bread. Like we split it in half and it literally was two bites per person.
00:49:44
Speaker
Yeah. Not great. um But in contrast, also from the LRT's to booth, we tried the churros and it had like different dips. was like the artist's palate.
00:49:55
Speaker
It had like a raspberry dip, a caramel dip, and then a... Bavarian cream. gra cream yeah This was so good. I gave it an eight out 10. My only complaint is that I wish that there was more dip.
00:50:09
Speaker
Like I feel like I was like going light on my dips. We were also sharing, so I don't want to eat it all. I wanted more. wanted more I think we have a dip left over.
00:50:20
Speaker
yeah I thought so. I finished before you, so with my half, so. Oh. But i I would and probably will get again. Yeah, I loved it. I would definitely get that again.
00:50:32
Speaker
um We had the chicken tenders. We had the mesquite ones with like the bourbon glaze barbecue dip. These were like some real good quality chicken tenders for theme park food. They were, yeah.
00:50:48
Speaker
Like the seasoning was good. I gave it 7 out of 10 overall. A chicken finger is a chicken finger. I'm always going to like it. It's never going to blow me away. But I would say it is definitely higher than average quality. Yeah, good quality chicken. the The rub was good. I feel like it was like a dry rub.
00:51:05
Speaker
The only thing I did not like, I did not like the barbecue sauce that came with it. It was way too sweet. It was very sweet. I didn't really use much of it. Yeah, I had like two bites of it, realized I didn't like it and then I just ate the tender plain. But it was good without it.
00:51:18
Speaker
Yeah, it was very good without it. You don't even need it. Moving on to the mom, please cut off the crust, fried, uncrustable PB&J moment. You should read Sho's question.
00:51:31
Speaker
I saw it. I was very hesitant to try this because people that went to premium scream and had had it before we got there said it wasn't good. And that like, it was just eating grease.
00:51:43
Speaker
So I was really worried about it, but I freaking loved it. I think it was maybe my favorite thing there. gave it a nine out of 10. I loved it. It's just it for me, it was more just like the the peanut butter and jelly was like liquidy because it was hot.
00:51:59
Speaker
So it wasn't like, are yeah, I understand why people thought it was greasy. Like it maybe it was and it sort of feels like you're biting into grease. But that's just the content sort of liquefying when they get hot.
00:52:13
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, it's something delicious. And then you fry it, it's going to be good. Like you can't go wrong. So good. I had it twice and I've multiple Uncrustables since I've been home. i am on an Uncrustable kick.
00:52:27
Speaker
I have a problem. And I honestly, was thinking about having one tonight, but I think they're gone because my kids also eat them. But Sho said, as I'm listening to the latest episode right now, have any of you tried air frying an Uncrustable before? It's delightful.
00:52:41
Speaker
No. And I'm about to, I'm about to actually text Tom. I'm about to text this man and say, can you go to giant and get more on cross the poles? Oh my God.
00:52:53
Speaker
i that That makes me wish I had an air fryer because I got this as well. And I mean, there was some hype behind it, I feel, on social media. So I was a little bit skeptical, but it was freaking delicious.
00:53:05
Speaker
There's something about that hot ah peanut butter and jelly inside and the crunchiness of the the crust. It's like so much leveled up from a regular Uncrustable to me.
00:53:15
Speaker
don't know. And then it also technically has like maple syrup and chili flakes as well. I don't know if that made a difference or not. I think the maple syrup did. I couldn't really tell about the chili, but yeah, it was freaking delicious.
00:53:28
Speaker
Yeah, i tried it before when they had it a few years back and it was really good. i have to try it again this year, but I had no doubt that that was going to be bad and good or anything like that. It was. Yeah. as Yeah.
00:53:39
Speaker
Oh, and while we're at this booth, which is the the Dolls Lex Play Dead booth, um I saw the Blood Orange Screamsicle, which is vanilla vodka, blood orange syrup, and lemonade on the menu. And I was like, I might have to get that.
00:53:54
Speaker
And I took the first sip and I was like, hmm. And then as I started to drink it more, i was like, mm-hmm, yep, yep. And then I gave Kelly a sip.
00:54:06
Speaker
I wrote this down too because I had a sip and it was delicious sip. And I think I'm going to prioritize getting one this weekend because that was freaking good. Yeah, it was very good. Wait, so what is it again?
00:54:17
Speaker
ah Vanilla vodka, blood orange syrup, and lemonade. Quite simple. Yeah. I like that. want to try that. It's definitely drinks are so like they're jam packed with these different juices and that like, i don't know, to find something simple, like, yeah, it's one of the things that has less ingredients for their like premium cocktails.
00:54:38
Speaker
um And it's definitely a sweet drink. If you're not into that, you're not going to like this. um And that's what I was shocked by initially, like the sweetness of it. But then as you drink it more like the the flavors, you can kind of taste the different ones. And yeah, it's really nice.
00:54:53
Speaker
And the I tried the elotes, which I was looking forward to doing. That was so, so good. That was like up there with my favorite item. um You could get it with like...
00:55:08
Speaker
Cheese on it or the flamenade? I didn't do that. I just did the cheese and it was really good. it was it's on the cob, so i was a little worried about how that was going to go eating it, but it wasn't.
00:55:18
Speaker
It was cooked appropriately where it wasn't like getting stocked stuck all up in my teeth. So it was... it was just really like the flavor was good the amount of like seasoning on it and the cheese on it was really good I would definitely get that again that was at the Jason Universe booth which was over on the bridge or near the bridge like over over in that area um I also from that booth tried the s'more which is not a classic s'more it was the one that was on the like chocolate almond bread.
00:55:50
Speaker
And then it had like marshmallow on it. And it had like the little Graham square, like cinnamon square cereal and some like raspberry drizzle.
00:56:01
Speaker
Definitely not what I would call a s'more. get what they were going for. It was still very good. Like i and i enjoyed it and would get it again. It just is like a dessert, not a s'more. and i don't know.
00:56:12
Speaker
Like. Is a s'more not a dessert? Yeah, it's like its own thing. I wouldn't classify it as a s'more. you knows just like ah It's just another dessert. It sounds more like a kind of like a bread pudding-ish because it doesn't have like a cracker to hold, right? is that The bread is like the is holding it together. It's like a slice of bread.
00:56:32
Speaker
okay It's like a chocolate almond bread. And then on top of that is like marshmallow stuff with like the graham cracker. And like the chocolate comes from the bread pretty much. Mm-hmm.
00:56:45
Speaker
Yeah, there is some chocolate like sauce on it, I think. But it was good. It was interesting, unique. I don't know that I would get it again. But I did try a sip of the Tripping Animals Sour, which I know, Rafa, you had too.
00:56:57
Speaker
I thought it was kind of good for beer. i don't like beer. It's pretty good. Yeah, like I like it a lot more than the lacto cooler that they had last year.
00:57:08
Speaker
and the yeah They had it for a couple of years, actually. I never really liked it. I always thought it had the weirdest aftertaste. so Yeah, Tom said the same thing. He prefers this one, the new sour. lot more enjoyable.
00:57:19
Speaker
What flavor is It's like strawberry, lime. Yeah, it's like strawberry, lime, and something else. I don't know. Maybe be raspberry? I don't know. I don't remember for sure. but like It's pretty good, though. Yeah. Yeah.
00:57:33
Speaker
I also had this year's walking taco with the birria. It was good. um it was better than last year's from what I recall. Just could have used a little bit more like stuff in there. I feel like I like got to the bottom and it was just like chips, but yeah, what it is with a walking taco. Yeah.
00:57:49
Speaker
Yeah, noticed that. It kind of felt like once I started getting to the bottom, I was like, oh, wait, there really isn't much else. There's nothing left. Yeah. Yeah. It tasted good, but just needs more. The taste was good.
00:58:00
Speaker
The taste was good. And then the last thing I had was a pizza skull, which was not great. It was basically a glorified Hot Pocket, in my opinion. Yeah, it's always kind of looked like that. That's why I've never gotten it. Yeah. Yeah.
00:58:11
Speaker
It wasn't mine. Tom got it, and I had, like, two bites, and I was like, nah. Yeah. Not for me. I'm glad um'm glad i didn't pay for... well I mean, technically we did both pay for it, but I didn't pay for my own. I'm glad I did not.
00:58:25
Speaker
That's all I got. What else did you guys get? um I got... So I tried the cheese stick. I enjoyed that as well. um The walking taco was pretty good. oh you guys didn't um try the...
00:58:38
Speaker
the rambling rabbit fried carrot cake. Oh, you did? So freaking good. That was my favorite thing. Oh, damn. Yeah. it know the That was my favorite food item. I think this year for sure. I mean, I still have to try a lot more, but it was so good.
00:58:55
Speaker
It, and I, I mean, I don't know. I kind of like it more than the Uncrustable. I don't know. I mean, you really liked the Uncrustable. i love a carrot cake. But that's the thing. I feel like it's so different. And for that reason, don't,
00:59:07
Speaker
Really, really like that. i don't know. The carrot cake was very good. Like if you like carrot cake, you'll love it. Like it's not, you know, what's turning me off though. I don't love cotton candy. What's going on with that?
00:59:19
Speaker
Okay, so I didn't eat that part. Okay. But it's kind of awkward because they just they just rip off like a little piece of cotton candy and put it like um like in the corner of the plate that they give you. So it's not even like doing anything with the character. It's just decor. Yeah. It's not doing anything to the flavor. It's not affecting it at all. So you don't have to eat it. It's just attached to it. Like it's just in the plate.
00:59:44
Speaker
Yeah. But that was really good. Okay. What I wouldn't recommend is the Clown Cafe Bloody Popcorn. I knew this was going to be bad. That's why I didn't get it. My cousin did.
00:59:56
Speaker
Yeah, she got it. I'm like, ooh, you really wanted to get that? And she was like, no, it looks pretty good. And we tried it, and it just wasn't – it's kind of like – I don't know. It just it it isn't really good.
01:00:09
Speaker
It's just – it's mixed with a bunch of popcorn. Yeah. I think it was about like six pieces of popcorn chicken something like that. I'm about to have a mid episode. There's actually popcorn in that. There is there it is. It is popcorn. Okay. Okay. I'm getting fired up. So when we were hungry, Tyler and I,
01:00:29
Speaker
We were thinking about getting this because it's like, oh, popcorn chicken. That sounds good. We could share this. We could try this. And the description of the item only talks about the chicken. Even though popcorn's in the title, you think, oh, this is just popcorn chicken with some blood ketchup on it or whatever they put on top.
01:00:45
Speaker
No, this is straight up a giant cup of popcorn with a little bit of popcorn chicken on top. Literally like six little pieces. And I knew it when I even seen the description. I remember I mentioned it on the podcast when we were recording. i was like, are we sure there's no popcorn in there? And I had a feeling they were going to do that shit. Like, why? Why would you do that? But yeah, it just, it wasn't good. It was, it wasn't good. yeah I don't know who thought about mixing it with popcorn.
01:01:15
Speaker
Like if it were just like an advertisement kind of thing where they just want to show off like, you know, for promo and all that, like the little popcorn container with, you know, popcorn and popcorn chicken just for ads and then actually give you just the chicken, then okay, I get it. But they actually mix it all together.
01:01:33
Speaker
And it doesn't taste very good together. Like the flavoring is just weird. The chicken was pretty soggy. So you're. that's what i Yeah. I immediately had thought soggy. Just. Yeah. and And it doesn't take much. It doesn't take much. And the popcorn was kind of like stale as well. So it just.
01:01:50
Speaker
It wasn't. It wasn't good. So. On that note though. About popcorn. Seapred asked us a question. oh did he? About popcorn. He said, if you're tasked to create three collectible popcorn buckets from three of the houses this year, what are you designing?
01:02:07
Speaker
After my spill, do you think I want to design a popcorn bucket? No, I actually love that. head i got I got really excited when he asked that because I feel like this, okay, first off, forget the IPs.
01:02:20
Speaker
I don't want leftovers from AMC, Regal, Cinemark, okay? We can leave those behind. We want like original popcorn buckets, okay? I feel like We need Galkin popcorn bucket of that thing at the end, the freaking Wicker Man thing at the end.
01:02:37
Speaker
That, sorry if you guys haven't listened to the spoiler part of the episode, but whatever. Minor spoiler. So that would be a great popcorn bucket. I think, okay, the one IP I'll give is the Wyatt Sixth.
01:02:51
Speaker
Give me a lantern popcorn bucket. That would be awesome. That would so good, actually. Yes, that would be awesome. And then what was the other one that I was thinking about? probably Probably anything hatchet and chains. Or actually, no, I think any you can do like a stained glass ah yeah but bucket for Artista. Artista bucket.
01:03:11
Speaker
Do something like that. don't give us leftover Megan ones. Like, fuck that.
01:03:18
Speaker
I mean, I'm like F all the popcorn buckets, but... I got very excited. I don't know. When I saw him ask that question... I love it. I got so excited. When I saw him ask that question, I'm like, oh my God. Like, see, like, this is where Universal can thrive. They want to go with the leftovers.
01:03:31
Speaker
Why? i don't know, but... Someone cussed that isn't me. Ooh, ooh. What if they did a popcorn bucket of one of the hatchet and chain zombie horses with, like, the the mouth being the...
01:03:46
Speaker
but Yeah, literally that one jump scare. They can make that into like a bucket. like Yeah. they could I want a bucket with the statue, the Five Nights statue from the Origins, where it is strangely phallic.
01:04:02
Speaker
Do you guys know what I'm talking about? No. Find me a picture and send it. like it Yeah, send it. If you look at the statue in Origins, you're like, oh my God, what is he holding? Yeah.
01:04:15
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Send that over. Let me see can find it. What about like a trick or treat bucket for a Cat Lady of Crooked Lane?
01:04:26
Speaker
Yeah. That's a popcorn bucket. That's fun. Yes, that would be fun. have plenty of using it in our I'm sending it in our group text so you guys can react to that. That was a great
Creative Concepts: Popcorn Buckets and Drinks
01:04:38
Speaker
question. I got very excited about that.
01:04:41
Speaker
Was there any other food that you had though? Um, no, I think so. I just had the, wait, hold on, do you send it?
01:04:54
Speaker
Oh, Oh no. surprised. I didn't see that. It feels like a TDR episode where we're referencing a picture that nobody can see. Yes.
01:05:05
Speaker
Yes. I thought about it immediately and it's like, okay, people are just going to hear us laughing. Um, We'll eventually, we'll put this in the, in our, in the discord discussion too.
01:05:18
Speaker
Yeah. You guys can see what we're talking about. That's, that's pretty bad.
01:05:24
Speaker
What a great popcorn bucket. Yeah. Anyways, I want a popcorn bucket with that. Of course. Oh gosh. Oh my God. Yeah. So had the, the, the deadly um nightshade, which is the Cuervo tequila, lime juice, grapefruit juice.
01:05:44
Speaker
Pomegranate and simple and blue syrups. um I did not buy this by choice. Javi just grabbed one for me and said, keep drinking. Of course.
01:05:55
Speaker
And i think that's what had me drowsy the entire night, the rest of the night. There's a lot of juices in that. There were too many juices. Yeah.
01:06:05
Speaker
It was too much. Yeah, it was good. i mean, it wasn't bad, but i I don't think I would get it again. That's fair. Yeah. Yeah. ah yeah Free drink.
01:06:17
Speaker
Thanks, Javi. The Uncrustables are being acquired.
01:06:22
Speaker
Turn on the air fryer. Kelly wasted no time. Um, what else? Oh, and I had the, the cursed cranberry vodka spritz, which I ordered and did not realize was a canned beverage.
01:06:36
Speaker
Um, but that was my, my pregame for the first house. Um, it was good. Sometimes with those, they can be kind of flavorless, but I thought it was flavorful and it tasted good. Way overpriced for like what it is being a canned, like low ABV beverage, but Hey, you know, Tyler, did you get anything else that we didn't cover?
01:06:55
Speaker
No. ah Pretty sure I just got everything that I had. Kelly also had. So she mentioned everything. Yep. And I don't really know how much else I want to try. Honestly, I feel like I tried. Yeah. Mostly everything.
01:07:10
Speaker
I'm excited. about but characterica el lotta the you said Yeah. try that. And then maybe the wings. I might try the wings also. want to try the coffee too. The coffee whiskey. Was it whiskey? Yeah.
01:07:23
Speaker
I don't know. Two coffee drinks at the Jason. I think they're Jason. Yeah. It was one of the ones in Jason that I wanted to check out. So I'll probably try that as well. But as far as food goes, I think just the elote is the only thing that I kind of want to get everything else. Like I would probably repeat what I got. I would get definitely get the cheese stick again. The walking taco was good and I would definitely get the carrot cake and not the popcorn. Yeah. Well, I'm excited to get more this weekend.
01:07:52
Speaker
Yes. Okay. So we had a couple more questions about the food and beverage. Dex asked us our top three food and beverage options. So I didn't really think about this, but I'm going to right now. We should all probably come up with our own top three.
01:08:08
Speaker
i didn't have enough stuff to have that many. Okay, I'm ready. Mine were elotes. Okay. The um fried peanut butter and jelly. And the churros.
01:08:26
Speaker
I think I'm going the chicken tenders, the uncrustable, and then the churros. And I'm just going to say the uncrustable because the cheese stick for me was like...
01:08:37
Speaker
not notable enough and that's the only other food i had your screamsicle was freaking delicious that's true that is a beverage item so i would put that in there as well the uncrossable and the the screamsicle so go to the the doll's booth it's great yeah carrot cake number one for me everything else i mean the cheese stick and the walking taco are kind of i don't know i want to rank them but i guess those would be two and three but carrot cake number one So basically eat all of the like worst, most unhealthy desserts. Yes.
01:09:08
Speaker
Get the fried cheesecake, the PB&J that's fried and the churros. Yes. Corn. I mentioned corn. not your Corn. not Not the popcorn.
01:09:22
Speaker
yeah not the popcorn
01:09:26
Speaker
ah Oh, and I guess I can comment on one more thing. I didn't personally have it because it looked disgusting, but at the Jason booth also, Tom got the spiral sausage and he said it was terrible.
01:09:37
Speaker
He didn't even eat it. He took like two bites. Oh no. Yeah. That's disappointing. I was like, you're not making me want to taste this even for content. So I did it.
01:09:48
Speaker
Um, what else?
Food Lineup and Quality Discussion
01:09:50
Speaker
Sho also asked us, is there a flavor or ingredient that you feel is missing from or would benefit being added to the HHN food or drink lineup? I mean,
01:10:01
Speaker
Yes. I feel like the the food is, it's all designed to be so portable and they don't have as many hearty options. And I think they could benefit from that. I mean, they're probably wanting not to do that because then you'll spend more on more food.
01:10:18
Speaker
um But it would be cool if they had some more, i don't know, some heavier or just more filling items. I would love to see bowls and just you know it mixes of things in bowls would be good.
01:10:32
Speaker
some like healthier things that aren't fried, even though obviously all of the fried things are delicious. But when it's so hot in Florida, like something cool, maybe some like fruit.
01:10:45
Speaker
like I don't know. I always crave fruit or like some ice cream. Oh yeah. it's also kind of like just mix it up You took mine, Kelly. I was going to say ice cream.
01:10:56
Speaker
Oh, sorry. i should have known. i would love like an art sickle or something. Yeah, that'd be great. And then Tom asked, and I don't really know what he's talking about, to be honest.
01:11:09
Speaker
I should have asked him when he was in the doorway here. Do you see the renaming of foods from last year as a trend or a one-off? and has or has this always been the way it goes? Also, why is the food quality not great? What are you talking about, buddy?
01:11:23
Speaker
I don't know the renaming of what foods. The only food that's really reused is like the walking tacos, tacos, the like um The potato chips that are chips this year and not on a... Oh, yeah. The the twisted taters that now come in a bag and they're not even on a stick.
01:11:44
Speaker
Things are not renamed. They're called the same thing all the time. Those are just like HHN staples. So I'm not really sure what he's talking about. i mean, maybe just the fact that there's generically usually some kind of tenders and wings and stuff. yeah They package them differently. I don't know. yeah They're not not going to come up with a new name for it because there are themed booths.
01:12:03
Speaker
They're not write the same name for the the theme. It has to change. They're not inventing new foods here. No, no, not at all. Yeah, and as far as the food quality, like I think he just didn't try that many great things, partially because like all of the good things I had already tried. So I was kind of encouraging like different things by the time he came.
01:12:25
Speaker
um So maybe that was my fault. But
Strengths and Improvements of HHN 34
01:12:28
Speaker
I don't know. I don't think that the food is like notably worse this year than prior years. No, it kind of is what it is. I mean, it's not like the most amazing thing ever. But there are particular items that you're like, oh, yeah, and that hits.
01:12:41
Speaker
um I think, and maybe some of that is just in comparison because all of us have been there recently, but Epic Universe hits hard everywhere on the food and and that is also a universal property. And so you're kind of like, hmm, I would love to have more of that kind of stuff over here. But HHN and all of these booths are...
01:13:00
Speaker
temporarily set up. It's not like they have a full kitchen back there. So there's a limit to what they can do for these specialty foods that come out. And I think for what it is, it's decent for the most part.
01:13:11
Speaker
And it has to be something they can throw it together quickly too. It's not like restaurant where you order it and then you're waiting 10, 15 minutes or whatever. for sure. You have be able to order it and walk up right up to the booth and get it.
01:13:23
Speaker
And there's right so many foods that can be that way. Yeah. I feel like I can't really complain when it comes to the food. I never end up trying every single food item anyway.
01:13:34
Speaker
So, I mean, I do end up enjoying a couple of things. Yeah. It's too there's too many things. Like I can't expect to like try every single thing. So I can't really complain about it. Yeah.
01:13:45
Speaker
I think that's it for, for our food and beverage coverage. um The last thing that I wanted to talk about is just what you guys think of HHN 34 as a whole.
01:13:57
Speaker
kind of tying it all together? i i think this is one of the stronger years that we've had in a while. i think. I feel like scare zones are a lot better this year.
01:14:12
Speaker
um i that You can tell that they're taking, like, the feedback into consideration. Like they're really trying to amp it up when it comes to the scare zones and the street experiences or whatever.
01:14:25
Speaker
um I, well, one thing I didn't mention as a spill, which I probably should have mentioned, I kind of like this new, i and it's probably just because of Hollywood or bright rocket being removed, but I like that hub in the back.
01:14:40
Speaker
I feel like it controls the crowds a whole lot better than before. And I feel like it makes it easier to walk down like the general areas in the park. Like when you go back there to you know, to find the houses, like it's, it doesn't even seem as crammed as it was prior. Like when you would have to walk down the main streets to get, you know, to each house.
01:15:00
Speaker
So I feel like that made it, a lot better this year i don't know what did you guys think about that no we didn't talk about that new change for this year Yeah, and Braden asked about that too. He said, how is the demolition of rip Ride Rocket impacted the event so far? I agree with you. i like not seeing all those cues like spilling out, especially during stay and scream into the streets, making it just like a giant disaster. yeah I think first it was a little bit confusing.
01:15:25
Speaker
not not that you can't, like confusing as far as like, where am I going when I'm in a queue back there? Like, where's the actual house? And like, what? Because you can kind of like seize other queues you're like, where am I going versus where are they going? It doesn't really matter because like the entrance is very clear. There are signs everywhere with arrows that say how to get back to the park, how to get to which houses. Like, it's very well done.
01:15:49
Speaker
um Some of the sound stages are utilized for parts of the queue, like they're indoor and and much better than in prior years. The lights are dim and they're they're utilizing screens and playing stuff. We talked about that a little bit last time, but I like, I don't know that they'll continue to do it this way, depending on like what is happening with the new ride, but I like it a lot better than what is typical.
01:16:15
Speaker
The one, like... major con for me was um the B entrance, which is the one near the Fallon restrooms. When you are walking into houses from that pathway, it is very narrow. And there are points of the night where it's difficult to walk through there.
01:16:31
Speaker
And that's just because of the construction fencing. So that's definitely like rip ride rocket, just taking up space, the demolition is taking up space. And I feel if they were to do this type of setup again in the future, it wouldn't be like that. It wouldn't be so space constrained, if they would open that back up and just so you could flow through.
01:16:47
Speaker
I will say just to make it clear because the the the signage wasn't as clear and like the actual map on the app isn't clear. You can access all of the soundstage houses by either entrance. Like if you're going, there's like an A entrance.
01:17:02
Speaker
And a B entrance to the sound stages, you can access any house from either side. It's just that the one is closer, the front one is closer, A is closer Wyatt Six and Five Nights, and the back one B is closer to Grave of Flesh and Terrifier. But you it all connects.
01:17:20
Speaker
So if you're trying to get back there. But we kind of tangented. Yeah, we did. Overall. Yeah, overall, I think the event is great this year. i don't know. I can see it only getting better from here until the end of the season.
01:17:35
Speaker
um I think the houses are very solid, even though we weren't the biggest fans of like Five Nights or Grave of Flesh. like I just feel like even those houses, like you can there's a lot of potential. You could see the how they can try to make that better over the season. I don't know. I feel like overall, it's a very strong year.
01:17:53
Speaker
um I know I mentioned this list, you know, this time, last time i mentioned that last year, it felt like Insidious was so much better than every single house last year. Whereas this year, I can see any of these houses being like a favorite for anybody.
01:18:07
Speaker
So I think overall, it's it's great. Yeah, looking back, I think last year was definitely a weak point overall. The house quality, the scare zones, all of that.
01:18:18
Speaker
um I was just looking back at HHN 32, which is the only of the three that I've attended. And looking at the house lineup, that was stronger than and like I remember initially. But when I look back at those houses, I'm like, oh, yeah, like some of these were really good, like Blood Moon, Dark Steel.
01:18:33
Speaker
um Odd Fellows, the Universal Monsters was good that year. Like they they had a bunch of good stuff. But I think some of the lower ends like that the the Chucky one and there was something else that was kind of rough.
01:18:45
Speaker
ah Even Stranger Things was like not amazing um that year. I think the average quality of the houses this year is the highest I've seen so far in the three years I've gone. The scare zones are definitely better than last year.
01:18:59
Speaker
um I could see an argument being made that like HHN 32 is kind of similar in terms of quality, but the way that they have evolved with the street experiences and Cat Lady kind of having some experimental elements to it, I think that makes them all better as well.
01:19:16
Speaker
um The only thing that I have like that I kind of wish was a little bit more is the the cohesion of having an icon or having a tie in for everything around the park.
01:19:27
Speaker
They kind of tried to do that a little bit with origins of horror and artista, but it's not it's not as much of a through line as it was with odd fellow because they they put a lot of lore together that year and HHN 32 and they had all kinds of backstories and and everything. It was really cool to see see them kind try to tie everything together.
01:19:46
Speaker
So if there's any like negative for this year, it would be some of that. But overall, it's probably when you take everything into consideration, it's probably the best year I've seen so far. Yeah, I agree with all that um i don't think that. I think the houses are a little bit better. I don't think they're exponentially better than they have been in years past.
01:20:04
Speaker
But I think when you include everything, it's definitely an up year. They just seem to get some of the minor details right this year. They're going little bit further with their detail in the scare zones.
01:20:17
Speaker
Seems like maybe they got a little bit more budget to play around with stuff also. So when you just include everything, it's definitely an up year. Yeah, I agree with everything that you guys said too, like very much. So I agree that overall, I think the houses are maybe that the average of the houses is definitely better, but I don't know that there's like a standout like, oh my gosh, this is like the most amazing house ever there are, for me at least. I mean, there are great aspects of many of the houses. I'd say the upper...
01:20:49
Speaker
half or maybe even six, seven out of 10 are very good houses. There's no flop of a house, even though I don't love five nights. Like I can see how it's an enjoyable house for those fans.
01:21:01
Speaker
um I think one thing on with the houses that was really well done this year as compared to years past, and maybe it's just because I got more runs and was able to appreciate the detail a little bit more than I typically am. I think they're utilizing a lot of new tactics and technology like in Artista they did a lot of the like Pepper's Ghost and mirror tricks and then they had the really high-tech animatronics and Five Nights and they had the use of screens and
01:21:34
Speaker
um Especially Hatchet and Chain, that was really well done. And some of the other houses they used screens too. I think um Dolls they did. i think just their their use of technological advancements is really apparent. Like they're definitely putting focus on doing more with that kind of stuff, which I think is good.
01:21:53
Speaker
um agree that the scare zones are definitely much better than they've been. And I agree with you, Joey, too. I really loved how Oddfellow tied the whole event together. I think they did a good job with the theme, tying it all together with like the conservatory theme, but...
01:22:09
Speaker
I wish there was a like a little bit more lore than just like little Easter eggs and the Artista story on the podcast. um That would really be my only negative. I think food is on par.
01:22:22
Speaker
Beverages are on par from what I've tried, which is minimal. um I'm excited to see how the event evolves. This will be my first year going like really throughout the entirety of the event. Typically, I've only ever gone...
01:22:37
Speaker
in the back half. So it was fun to experience the, the beginning. i hope to do that again in the future, um, next year, probably at least.
01:22:48
Speaker
And, um, having the pass, the frequent fear pass is really nice because it's making me want to use my pass and get down there more and experience the event throughout its, its entire run. So I know that they do change things throughout, um, throughout the run of the,
01:23:06
Speaker
of the season. So it'll be interesting to see. Maybe not a ton will be different this weekend because it's only been two weeks, but by the end, when we go in October, I think it'll be interesting to see and compare and see if, um, my rankings like change significantly or not, but yeah, I think it's a great year for HHN.
01:23:27
Speaker
I think it's definitely better than last year for sure.
Event Merchandise and Future Plans
01:23:30
Speaker
Cool. I think we covered most of our questions within the episode. i think we just have one two left. Hunter asked, do you feel like the theming and space was used utilized better this year?
01:23:43
Speaker
think the space was throughout the park. There's more hour to see going on. Yeah. Yeah, i think we kind of covered that with, you know, Mel's being a little bit extra club horror.
01:23:55
Speaker
livening that back area a little bit. So yeah, i think it's unanimous. Yes. The space is being utilized better for sure. Yeah. And then Wade asked what our favorite merch of the event was. And one thing I completely forgot that I didn't do was the tribute store.
01:24:11
Speaker
Yeah. I didn't go in either. Yeah. haven't yet either. I've heard it's one of the lowlights of this year, but I don't know about it. I didn't go in. I did look at the merch, um, like in city walk,
01:24:25
Speaker
I'm like really getting me. Yeah. I have like very specific, like typically I'm only going to buy a shirt if I'm going to buy merch and it has to be like really my style, which is like hard to achieve.
01:24:37
Speaker
I think so. yeah It's not that the merch is bad. It's just not something that I would spend the money to wear. I feel, and I'm not going buy other merch like, Yeah, and the style, especially the ones where they try to put all the houses on one shirt or even the scare zones, it's just stylistically a whole bunch of different logos and it doesn't necessarily match up. I mean, the one shirt that I saw that I was like, okay, I would like get that one in theory would be the HHN 25 shirt.
01:25:06
Speaker
like the logo from this year that has the vines and stuff on it. Cause I think that's the most aesthetically appealing of what I've seen. I do like the stained glass thing that they did. I think that's cool, but it's not something that I would ever buy. i like, I think it's cool, but it's not something I would get personally.
01:25:23
Speaker
I was looking for something small, like a little magnet or like a little sticker or something. And I didn't see that kind of thing. So. right. Listen, theme park merchandising executives, everybody that's listening to us. I know there's a bunch of you.
01:25:37
Speaker
This is what we want on a shirt. The front, we want a minimal logo, some sort of logo. It can be in the middle. I like it kind of on the side, something minimalistic on the front.
01:25:49
Speaker
And then you can put something busier on the back. We don't want the busyness on the front where you try to cram everything on the front. I hate that. It's so ugly.
01:26:02
Speaker
ah So Tyler. Is that a me thing? I thought that's an everybody thing. No, it's it's definitely ah a preference that I also share, but you, I think 90% of your t-shirts are that.
01:26:17
Speaker
Like you just you just described your own Literally. don't think you're wearing one right now. And it needs to be, it needs to either be black, gray, blue, or green.
01:26:30
Speaker
yeah and And if it's blue or green, it can't be bright. It has to be like faded. Yeah. uhu yeah
01:26:39
Speaker
So all the Game Park executives that listen to us, keep that in mind. Yeah. ah For me, it's more about the aesthetic. like But I agree that I don't like the shirts where there's a billion things crammed on the front. But it doesn't have to be a little logo off to the side. I'm okay with a bigger logo. It just has to look nice. Yeah.
01:26:58
Speaker
It can be a little bit bigger. It just can't take up the entire front half of the shirt. Yeah. agree. I think we've had too many Hornite shirts already, so I think I don't really care to get another one this year.
01:27:13
Speaker
Yeah. I think I'm going to skip a shirt this year. Yeah. Unless they drop the prices at the end of the season, maybe I'll get one. oo That's the moment. We will be there.
01:27:24
Speaker
if i if If I decide to get it then, I'll get it then, but not running for it.
01:27:32
Speaker
And somehow we are still 90 minutes in. One day we'll have a shorter episode. ah Anything else? You guys have anything else?
01:27:45
Speaker
No. I guess we'll see. who knows what our next episode might be. yeah
01:27:51
Speaker
Soonish. Soonish. Maybe. i will be going to Six Flags over Georgia's Fright Fest soon, so I'll have some other haunt event reporting. We'll have some stuff from the Wobble for BuzzFars coming up.
01:28:05
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I'm hoping to get to some other local haunts as well. we'll have some stuff to talk about. Some HHN updates. Maybe go to might have some Dorney stuff.
01:28:16
Speaker
I'm going to go to probably Hallow Scream at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I'll probably go into King's dominion. and i will not buy the maze pass out of protest.
01:28:27
Speaker
Yes. we'll have plenty of stuff to talk about in a couple of weeks. Cool. And if you're not already following us on social media, we are on Instagram at thrills, chills, and spills.
01:28:40
Speaker
And then we are also on Twitter or X at T underscore S underscore S pod. Um, We'll trying to get more active on there so you can follow along. And as always, thanks for listening.
01:28:56
Speaker
See you next time. Stay spooky. Bye. That's tea, actually. about