We return this week for another update from Universal and Halloween Horror Nights. As the park ramps up for the opening of The Walking Dead the news for Halloween Horror Nights has been lowered to a trickle. The only maze announced for Hollywood’s version of HHN has been The Exorcist. We really can’t tell you how excited we are to be seeing this maze finally come to fruition. Universal also made some major announcements regarding CityWalk, the theme park, and the Studios that you can read about on MiceChat.  Now then, on to the HHNTracker goodness.

If you missed the other project trackers you can find them here!

• Universal Hollywood HHN 2016 Tracker 1
• Universal Hollywood HHN 2016 Tracker 2

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead attraction saw the addition of a major set piece to it’s entrance late Monday night. The mysterious helicopter that has taunted Rick from above with its random appearances in the television series has crashed right where visitors begin queueing up.

We can now see further down the alley way and into where guests will enter the main show building.

We have actually been inside and we were very impressed with what we saw. We are working on a spoilerific article for you that should be up soon that gives you a full break down of each scene.  For now though, we have the entrance down the alley into the Harrison Memorial Hospital and here is the exit.

Last Friday, Creative Director for Halloween Horror Nights, John Murdy began his week of tweets with…

Testing all animated figures/FX today for Walking Dead…hoping to look at some projection today as well. Meet the cast on Monday!

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 17, 2016

 

Needing a break on Saturday, he opened things up to the twitterers for a long Question and answer session. Here are the highlights.

Been living in The Walking Dead lately, now working on audio, lighting and projection. Gonna take a brief break to do some Q&A…

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 18, 2016

 

QUESTION: @HorrorNights Does TWD attraction cover the seasons or is it a brand new story?

— 1600 (@sadboyserg) June 18, 2016

Answer: the Walking Dead attraction is not based on a single season. You’ll see scenes from various seasons as for the story…

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 18, 2016

 

QUESTION: @HorrorNights Any affects put into the Walking Dead attraction that you have never tried with HHN mazes?

— Behind The Horror (@BTHorror) June 18, 2016

Answer: yes quite a few. The attraction uses a technology called faux fire that I used for the original ending of The Mummy ride…

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 18, 2016

(Cont.) We use heat fx, portable smoke fx for props and characters and of course animatronics…we’ve never had animatronics in HHN.

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 18, 2016

 

QUESTION: @HorrorNights What challenges has this permanent maze had that differ from a normal temporary TWD maze during HHN would have?

— Mockingjay (@OUMockingjay) June 18, 2016

Answer: everything is different, more complicated with a permanent attraction, right now we are cycle testing animation for 4 days straight

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 18, 2016

 

QUESTION: @HorrorNights Are there any specific things we should look out for when going through the attraction?

— HHNSquad (@HHNSquad) June 18, 2016

Answer: The Walking Dead attraction has a ton of Easter Eggs we’ve hidden for fans to find…some are obvious, some not so obvious…

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 18, 2016

Monday he returned to work and began with…

Programming animatronic walkers today. Looking good. Can’t wait for you to experience the attraction!

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 20, 2016

KNB FX are in the house right now. Doing the final tweaks to bicycle girl and all the other animated walkers

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 23, 2016

Finally got to see the Dead Inside door in action today. Programming 12 animated hands in conjunction with moving doors takes a lot of TIME!

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 23, 2016

Also been dialing in the programming for Bicycle Girl and other animated walkers today…found a funny problem that I needed KNB’s help with

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 23, 2016

Bicycle Girl does multiple things, she crawls, she reaches up and tries to grab you, etc. Her hair kept getting in her face! #walkerproblems

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 23, 2016

Had to call in Nicotero’s team at KNB FX with some special Walker hair product to solve the issue. Now she looks gorgeous! In a dead way

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 23, 2016

The Mummy Extended Queue

We are still not sure what maze is going in here. We are thinking it will be the exorcist but we hope that Exorcist will be in the backlot. However, speaking of…

QUESTION: @HorrorNights what can we expect from the exorcist maze

— ? (@esmescng) June 18, 2016

Answer: what it feels like to be possessed

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 18, 2016

We can see now that the framework for the walls is going up fast. 

It appears that this will be the exit to the maze as it was for This Is The End last year. If you notice, there really isn’t any facade work going up at this point.

QUESTION: @HorrorNights Will your Exorcist maze be relatively different from Orlandos?

— Tori of Avalor (@princesstori96) June 18, 2016

Answer: yes, there are some things in common but a lot that is also unique to each park

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 18, 2016

Jurassic Park Extended Queue

During his Q and A, Murdy got the following query.

QUESTION:  @HorrorNights when will the maze by jp be announced?

— Rigoberto Ruiz (@rigby_94) June 18, 2016

Answer: the maze being built in the Jurassic Park queue area will be the next maze announced, right after The Walking Dead opens…

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 18, 2016

Okay so let the rampant speculation continue.  Some think Krampus, some think Insidious. With July 4th being right around the corner, we will know soon enough.

Backlot

Not too much to see here other than further construction on this major maze.  The Studio Tour did not drive near the site o, well, no pics.

Stage 747

QUESTION:  @HorrorNights are there any venues used last year that will not be used again excluding SS28 plot?

— Blake Jeffreys (@bdj9799) June 18, 2016

Answer: yes, lost 747 due to production needs so building the maze in front of it.

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 18, 2016

Answer: the maze code named “Doris Day” will be built in the metro set area of the backlot right outside the 747 stage.

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 18, 2016

Former Stage 28

So here’s the thing. Murdy When asked what locations they lost for HHN this year, Murdy only mentioned Stage 747.  With the recent park announcement, we know that eventually this spot next to Transformers will be used to create a new attraction.  Will they use this space for HHN prior to construction, or did Murdy only answer that question partially? We can see here that they have begun to break ground.  So, that is what leaves us to wonder.

Terror Tram

Could we be getting something new for the Terror Tram?  The past two years it was Purge related.  While last year was phenomenal, The Purge is a little played out.  

QUESTION: @HorrorNights When you said the Terror Tram was going to be “original” did that include original characters as well?

— Eric Chavez (@disneymonster94) June 18, 2016

Answer: yes, the story and all the characters are original but now I’m joining forces on it with another “entity”

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 18, 2016

Universal, PLEASE let this be a fun, original, new idea that is scary as hell. And can we take a vote on No More Chainsaws for now?

Scare Zones

Finally we look at Scare Zones.  Nothing has been announced as of yet and that is very normal. Scare Zones don’t get announced until later.  But Murdy suggests a bold new change in the way they do things this year.

QUESTION: @HorrorNights is there any info you can give on this years scare zones ? And/or what tickets will be available this year ?? ?

— UniMonsters (@terminator93r) June 18, 2016

Answer: totally changing the way we do scarezones this year out of necessity but I think it will be cool to change it up

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 18, 2016

Please tell us we get Dark Christmas for just one more year. Whatever you do Mr. Murdy please?

AUDITIONS!

Hey Boils and Ghouls. HHN 2016 auditions are now live at https://t.co/hd7LWZoGUV. Auditions are July 7-9 at the Universal Hilton. Sign up!

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 23, 2016

Rounding things out there was a great question about puppets.  Last year and the year before we were treated to the astounding Queen Alien puppet for Alien Vs Predator.  I honestly could do that maze one more year but we know that won’t happen as stage 747 is off the table. The question though was…

QUESTION: @HorrorNights Any big puppets coming to HHN this year in mazes?

— Behind The Horror (@BTHorror) June 18, 2016

Answer: I can think of two specific ones

— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 18, 2016

So obtuse, so much fun.  We are excited to see what brilliant scares John Murdy, Chris Williams, and the rest of the team bring us.  Until then, unpleasant dreams.

If you missed the other project trackers you can find them here!

• Universal Hollywood HHN 2016 Tracker 1
• Universal Hollywood HHN 2016 Tracker 2