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Our Millennial Conversation
Our Millenia Conversation brings together the stories of two friends who first met in the heart of Orlando’s theme park scene. After a year of exploring the magic of Orlando together, Dustin relocated to his hometown in East Tennessee, and the duo decided to evolve a passion project formally the “Orlando Unplugged Podcast.”
This new podcast moves beyond the turnstiles of theme parks, diving into relatable millennial musings, stories of growth, and the unexpected adventures of adulthood. With Dustin’s Appalachian charm and Ashley’s Orlando Sunshine, each episode feels like catching up with old friends over coffee— or a roller coaster ride of laughs and insights.
Whether it’s navigating career changes, celebrating pop culture, or reminiscing about their Orlando days, Our Millennial Conversation promises to keep you entertained, inspired, and coming back for more.
Our Millennial Conversation
Unplugging Halloween Horror Nights 2024
Prepare yourself for a spine-tingling exploration of Universal's Halloween Horror Nights 33! We break down this year's hair-raising IP houses, from the eerie silence of "A Quiet Place" to the demonic horrors of "Insidious: The Further" and the frosty fears of "Ghostbusters Frozen Empire." Don't miss our deep dive into the all-female, all-fatal "Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines," featuring classic female monsters locked in a deadly battle against a new Van Helsing descendant. We also provide tips for first-timers and celebrate Universal's trend of strong female leads, promising an episode filled with thrills and chills.
As Halloween Horror Nights 2024 looms on the horizon, we're giving you an exclusive sneak peek into next year's spine-chilling attractions and extended hours. Discover the returning fan-favorite shows like "Nightmare Fuel: Nocturnal Circus" and the interactive Death Eaters in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. From themed lounges at Universal's hotels to the unique food offerings inspired by Ghostbusters, we speculate on what surprises await horror fans. Tune in for an episode packed with high-energy performances, eerie decorations, and a preview of the Halloween spirit that will engulf Universal Studios.
Warning content may be too extreme for some listeners. Content is not recommended for children under the age of 13. Listener discretion is advised. Today's episode contains information about Universal Halloween Horror Nights. The views and opinions of the host may not align with that of Universal Orlando Resort or its affiliates. We've never had a free show.
Speaker 2:Guest Orlando Resort or its affiliates Contains information about Universal becoming social media account holders. You're listening to Orlando Unplugged celebrating life in living color with Dustin and Ashley. Grab a cocktail or a mocktail and let's get Unplugged. Orlando, what is up Unplugged fam? I'm Dustin and I'm Ashley, and welcome back to another episode of Orlando Unplugged.
Speaker 3:and this is not just any episode this is the 29th episode the episode. We have one more guys. Season one is being wrapped up. In one more episode, I have been crying happy, sad tears, I feel like for a week now, maybe a couple weeks now, because I mean 30 episodes, that's a lot, that's a lot of time spent together.
Speaker 2:That's 30 weeks of our life, give or take, a couple weeks here and there, but I have had to put up with you every shut up I tried to fire you in day one.
Speaker 3:Do you remember that episode? We?
Speaker 2:did that.
Speaker 3:How long was that episode? Almost three hours yeah, something like god, our lives are so annoyingly long, but boy it, season two is going to be wild it is, and before we even get to season two, we have an episode jam packed. Today, this is going to be juicy.
Speaker 2:It's going to be a long one. So if you were just joining us, if you saw the Halloween Horror Nights tagline and you thought, oh, I'm going to click on this episode, you do have to put up with us for a few minutes, because we do have to give just some simple life updates, things that we have going on in our lives, before we jump in and we talk about halloween horror nights 33, I'm already scared, I'm already shaking my boots, I'm already stressed and don't worry you said, shaking your boobs.
Speaker 3:Sir, this is a pg-13 rated episode, not an r-rated episode. Okay, someone needs you to pull your head out of the gutter, by god ditch I mean I ain't climbing up no ladder to a gutter anyhow jesus ashley, you got anything going on in your life this past week.
Speaker 2:Um what did we talk about last time? What was going on?
Speaker 3:it was my birthday and it was hhs or no, it was um, uh, creepy con. Oh my god, hey, um, wait real quick. Before we we start. I do want to thank every single person that has been like tagging on our socials and on our facebook and our instagram, I mean, are tagging your socials. They should have covered that. Jesus pizza, stop talking, um. But all of those people, thank you so much. It was so fun to interact with all of you. I think that's the most. This is going to sound so sad, but I think that's the most interaction we've had on our socials in a hot engagement.
Speaker 2:engagement, is that what it's called? Yeah, fancy word, remember, we're a podcast, we're fancy.
Speaker 3:We are super fancy.
Speaker 2:And we do want to give a brief shout out. Guys, if you are texting the show, please put your name on it, like at the end, like you know, love, shan, or whatever.
Speaker 3:Shan getting shouted out again.
Speaker 2:I'm just going to say fan 0294, because it's the last four of your telephone number.
Speaker 2:That's all it gives us in Cincinnati Ohio. Um, thank you for telling us. We had a nice episode and good work. We appreciate it. Uh, that's the other thing. If you're writing into us, um, you know, sign it like love Shan, from where's Shan? From Michigan or somewhere, because I just realized I did a test to this a while back when we first started it and it says Maryville, tennessee, which is where I'm originally from, but I obviously live in Orlando now do we, yeah, but because?
Speaker 1:because my phone number is registered there originally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it said that I was from, like Maryville, tennessee, which I am, but I don't currently live there. So tell us where you live and your name so we can give you a proper shout out. Please you guys have one more episode. Plus, we really want to be stalkers and we are going to want to hear what you guys have to say after the show. What are you thinking, Ashley?
Speaker 3:Are you ready to just jump in, or is there something?
Speaker 2:I don't really do. I think I'm mostly excited about this episode. It's a couple of disclaimers that we want to throw in before we move over, because we've got some fun stuff planned oh, you know, we do have an update what I forgot, we got to ride dinosaur oh yeah, we got our last ride on dinosaur, yeah I completely.
Speaker 3:You know, I'm just not that sad, so I think that's why I didn't really care yeah, for those of you that don't know, dinosaur is going away. We talked about that in our last episode.
Speaker 2:It's closing before the end of this year to make way for Indiana Jones in the new Central America's land coming to.
Speaker 3:Animal Kingdom Disney's Animal Kingdom Dinosaurland. Was it Dinosaurland? Is that what it's called?
Speaker 2:Dinoland.
Speaker 1:Dinoland, dinoland dinosaur land. Was it dinosaur land? Is that what it's?
Speaker 2:called dino land. Dino land, dino land, usa.
Speaker 3:Now what I do wanted to say wrong park, I know wrong park um you know what's funny is we were, we were doing that in that, in that ride, sorry I'm.
Speaker 2:I'm giving her the look because I keep trying to start a sentence and she keeps cutting me off because I keep thinking you were doing what we, when we were in dino land we walked past.
Speaker 3:they have a little sign that says like the American crocodile, and I was like it's as large as an American alligator. Go ahead, velocicoaster Kids. Then you'd understand why that's funny.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:I'm really, really, really in a food coma. You suck Can.
Speaker 2:I say it now.
Speaker 3:I'll just like yeet myself out the window. It's fine, Bye-bye all right, guys.
Speaker 2:so the one thing that we did want to say before we get started is um, we are reading from a script this week because we had a lot of information that we wanted to give you guys and we did a lot of research with universals websites, uh, and their podcast to to gather information together, and we want to do a really good job of trying to portray this story. So you guys know, sometimes we struggle from reading from a script, but don't turn off the show.
Speaker 2:If you're new, you're going to enjoy it. It's going to be fun. We do sound effects and music.
Speaker 2:It's going to be funny because we're going to botch some words and you're going to laugh at us and I do just want to go ahead and say we're going to botch some words and you're going to laugh at us, and I do just want to go ahead and say I think that Universal does a great job of bringing in Latin America and South America into Halloween Horror Nights. With that being said, there are going to be words that Ashley and I they are not a native tongue and we have to look up how to pronounce these words. Why are you confused?
Speaker 3:Native tongue. No, I'm not confused, I'm just staring at you.
Speaker 2:that's just how my face looks um, so, that being said rude, we are super excited to do this show with you guys. So are you guys ready? Are we? Where are we gonna see everyone? Ashley, into the fog, into the fog in the fog, in the fog.
Speaker 3:Is that what they say? You in the? Fog is that what they say?
Speaker 3:yeah, oh okay, let's go now, before we dive into this year's halloween horror nights, we want to give you a brief history of the event. Halloween horror nights or hhn as we will call it at universal orlando resort has become a premier event in the theme park world. Brief history of the event. Halloween Horror Nights or HHN as we will call it at Universal Orlando Resort has become a premier event in the theme park world, drawing in horror fans from around the globe. What began as a simple haunted attraction has evolved into a multi-month spectacle, transforming the park into a chilling and immersive experience that is both thrilling and terrifying.
Speaker 2:The event started modestly in 1999 as Fright Nights, featuring just one haunted house and a few scare zones. The success of this three-night event led to its rebranding in 1992 as Halloween Horror Nights. Throughout the 90s, hhn expanded rapidly, adding more haunted houses, scare zones and live shows, establishing a reputation for pushing the boundaries of fear.
Speaker 3:The 2000s marked a period of innovation for aj chen, with the introduction of original characters like jack the clown, who has become a reoccurring icon. This event began incorporating popular horror franchises, most commonly known as ip houses, such as nightmare on elm street and friday the 13th, blending these with original concepts to create unique and terrifying experiences. Each year the event grew larger, with more elaborate sets, special effects and immersive storytelling.
Speaker 2:Now, in the 2010s, HHN leaned heavily into pop culture, partnering with major film and TV franchises like the Walking Dead, American Horror Story and, most recently, Stranger Things. These collaborations brought a new level of authenticity to the event, drawing in fans from the shows and movies. The event continued to innovate with interactive experiences, virtual reality and ever more complex haunted houses.
Speaker 3:Today, Halloween Horror Nights is a global phenomenon, with events at Universal Studios, Hollywood, Singapore and Japan. However, Orlando's version remains the flagship, Known for its scale and creativity. The event continues to evolve, blending nostalgia with new ideas to ensure it stays at the forefront of Halloween entertainment.
Speaker 2:With just two years left until HHN approaches its 35th anniversary, it remains a must-visit for horror enthusiasts, offering a nightmarish adventure that is both terrifying and unforgettable, Whether you're a first-timer or a seasoned veteran. Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando promises to deliver fear in the most entertaining form.
Speaker 3:Now that you got a spooky history lesson, this is the part of our episode that we're going to be diving deep into this year's Halloween Horror Nights, hhn 33. Universal has added a new event that any fan would kill for this year a shriek peak of terror at the exclusive halloween horror nights premium screen night.
Speaker 2:This event will give guests access to all the haunted houses with shorter wait times and staggered entry, so groups will be separated while walking through the event guests will have access to all of the scare zones, entertainment options and rides and attractions that are offered during the event, but the biggest bang for your buck comes with the all you care to enjoy. Select full size food and non-alcoholic beverages. However, alcoholic beverages will be available for a separate charge. Must be 21 plus with a valid ID to purchase and consume alcoholic beverages Must be 21 plus with a valid ID to purchase and consume alcoholic beverages.
Speaker 1:Orlando Unplugged podcast reminds you please drink responsibly.
Speaker 3:Each guest will also receive one souvenir, credential and lanyard per guest, as well as free parking with their valid Halloween Horror Night Premium Scream Night admission ticket. Now, this event will have limited capacity and tickets will be subject to availability while supplies last. Now this ticket runs at $350 plus tax per person.
Speaker 2:Now let's break that down for a second.
Speaker 3:So the average ticket on a slow night or a normal night early in the season is only, I think, like $89. Wow.
Speaker 2:I didn't realize it was that cheap, with the most expensive being over $100, I believe, oh wow.
Speaker 2:I like that idea um, personally, yes, um, I've been to like a super exclusive theme park event before where it's only been a couple thousand people there. Um, you know, like a limited capacity event and it's the most amazing thing that you can do, and I think that doing it for halloween horror nights would be absolutely amazing, especially with this staggered entry. So you actually get to go through because you know guests say all the time oh, I saw that scare coming up, I saw that scare coming up. This gives you an opportunity to go through in a staggered group to where each scare is brand new to your eyes every time you see it.
Speaker 3:I think for me, I feel like I would do it solely for the food. I mean, with how much I mean I've seen in years past of how creative HHN is when it comes to their food and things like that, obviously for me, you know, I would not be doing the non-alcoholic when I would be drinking the ghoul juice and things like that, but the food itself is what I think would get me here as much as I. You could hit up every single booth and eat almost every single option and especially if you have you know people that you're going with you.
Speaker 3:that's a whole bunch of different options for everybody to try, you know you walk up to a vendor booth that has like four different options, instead of having to be like hey, I only can try like one or two things, no, I want all four. Give me a bite of every single thing and you stand in line for like it feels like 45 minutes just to order it well and how long it's.
Speaker 2:Totally, it's correct regardless of how long you wait in line, the hhn food is always like it's so good, what are?
Speaker 3:the what are?
Speaker 2:the, what are the? What are the children say? It's very thoughtful, very demure.
Speaker 3:Some what it's a mirror.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's a mirror I think, I don't know more. I think it's very thoughtful very demure.
Speaker 3:What it's a mirror?
Speaker 1:yes, it's a mirror, I think I don't know more.
Speaker 3:I think it's more because it's every, it's it. Everybody's been saying it's demi more um it's good more it is. No, it is, it's very good.
Speaker 2:So real quick oh wait, you've not been to hhn I have been to hhn.
Speaker 3:I have never what is?
Speaker 2:what has been your? What was your favorite food at hhn? Do you recall anything?
Speaker 3:yeah, I like the twistitators. Those are my go-to. I know everybody's like oh, pizza fries, that's my like, my thing. No, I love them twistitators. What's yours? Uh because you've been right oh, yeah, uh, my favorite.
Speaker 2:obviously, as I've said a million times, I'm a huge fan of the last of Us, so my personal favorite was the Salt. Lake iced coffee which was an alcoholic iced coffee, and then the ravioli. It was like a mushroom ravioli because, you know, the Last of Us is mushrooms.
Speaker 1:Never seen it.
Speaker 2:It was a really good drink, ravioli oh wow, it was very good.
Speaker 3:I liked it and it came in it came in that really cool can that I still have oh cute, and I got to walk past that today and see it. They have the sign up for the twistitator vendor.
Speaker 2:So I think that'll be great cool juice and twistitators that was my go-to as we mentioned earlier, hhn is a mixture of houses and scare zones that are referred to as IP for intellectual property or original concept. An intellectual property house is created when a third party works with Universal to bring a recreation of a popular film or TV show to life. At times, the park has even worked with musical artists like the Weeknd and Billie Eilish, though the Billie Eilish house never saw the light of day due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, universal is hosting an amazing array of IP houses, so now we're going to break them down for you.
Speaker 3:The first IP is A Quiet Place, based on the hit movie franchised by the same name. A Quiet Place will take guests on a journey through a terrifying post-apocalyptic world. You'll have to keep quiet as you travel from the farmhouse through the woods and the foundry to safety. As soon as you make a sound, the creatures who can hear the slightest noise will hunt you down and silence you for good.
Speaker 2:Now the next one is my personal favorite of the IPs this year and it is Insidious. The Further, based on the Insidious franchise, it will put guests into the further, where they will enter through the iconic red door and possibly come face to face with the red-faced demon and his lair and lurking over your shoulder. You might keep a watch for Keyface, who's out there trying to lock up your spirit, chasing you from every corner of this house. Demons are lurking to ensnare you.
Speaker 3:The final IP house this year, and the one I'm kind of looking forward to the most, is Ghostbusters Frozen Empire, based on the latest installment in the Ghostb franchise. The movie was released in march of this year. The timeline for this house is three years after the events in ghostbuster afterlife. The bone-chilling new specter has escaped from an ancient artifact and he plans to freeze you in your tracks. The ghostbusters must team up to save you and the rest of the world from a second ice age opinions.
Speaker 2:What do you think about these ips?
Speaker 3:I think quiet place is going to be interesting. I think the idea that we potentially are going to have to go into a house where are we going to have to stay quiet are the guests, are the scare actors going to be quiet, like I don't know I think that's gonna be a little strange the thing I'm most excited to see is how they portray the um.
Speaker 2:I think they call them demon angels the creatures themselves yeah like I've never actually seen the movies, just like previews and bits and pieces, and from what I can tell these creatures are, like supposed to be massive yeah so I'm interested to see how they're gonna do that in this house I hear.
Speaker 3:I'm also kind of curious if, like, the ghostbuster house is going to be cold, the whole frozen empire thing it better be I wonder how much air conditioning they're gonna be blasted into that thing. Maybe it'll be like that one bar that's on, I drive and I'll have to wear jackets oh do you know what bar?
Speaker 2:yes, I know, I don't know what it's called like. I think it's like below, below five or something I don't know, but yeah, I'm super excited for these. Um, I'm the insidious.
Speaker 3:Have you seen the billboards on kirkman?
Speaker 2:they just like, they just sprung up, like this week okay, so that red face, he's terrifying that's terrifying, was I remember one of the best jump scares in a movie that I had seen in so long that one made me pee my pants for sure. And that's right when I started to really get into scary movies and just the horror genre as it is Now. That being said, I haven't seen the newest one. I don't think the newest one's out yet.
Speaker 3:I think it comes out like a day before HHN opens or something. Is it the day before or day after HHN opens?
Speaker 2:I a day before hhn opens or something? Is it the day before, day after hhn opens?
Speaker 3:I don't know, but that's exciting like that.
Speaker 2:That. That makes me super, super excited. Now the original concept houses for this year sound like actually some of the best ones I think I've ever heard of. Now, starting in 2019, universal created a new tradition for hhn houses universal monsters and this year marks the fifth installment of the universal monsters franchise. Can we call it a franchise? Well, we are okay. So in 2019, the house was simply named universal monsters, but in the years following we've seen houses like the bride of frankenstein, lives, legends collide, unmasked, and this year we're getting eternal bloodlines.
Speaker 2:It's all female, all fearless and all fatal. Now please bear with me because I am gonna butcher some of this. It's a lot of sentences in one paragraph. Um, now, this is the ultimate battle between unexpected alliances of the classic female monsters, saskia van helsing, a new fearless hunter and daughter of Abraham Van Helsing, who was responsible for killing Dracula by driving a stake through his heart and destroying his reign of terror.
Speaker 2:Saskia now faces Dracula's daughter, countess Myra, who arose from the dead to seek revenge for her father and wants to destroy the Van Helsing bloodline, killing Saskia's brother during this epic battle. Meanwhile, on Saskia's journey, she finds herself on a carnival path where many of the caravans are ripped and torn to shreds, along with being stained with blood as she comes face to face with the dying Frankenstein's monster at the hands of the She-Wolf of London. As the Bride of Frankenstein was trying to search for She-Wolf, it turns out that her and Saskia come together, and they would then put their differences aside to team up against Countess Myra and her new alliance of She-Wolf of London and Aksunama, which is a female Egyptian mummy brought back to life whoa.
Speaker 3:Another great original this year is slaughter cinema 2. This house is a sequel to slaughter cinema from hh in 28. In 2018, guests will arrive at the carry drive-in and scream their way through creature features, grindhouse, gore, spaghetti westerns and more guests. And guests can expect to see films like mardi gras, murders, the gesture motel room, teenage bedroom, heavy metal, hell, cat house saloon, mummy's tomb, adult lounge and more. In this house, guests will see characters like gestures, heavy metal rockers, santa, mrs claus, mummy, strippers and more mummy strippers.
Speaker 2:Um, you know what would make me really happy in this house? Do you remember when we went to mardi gras and we really connected with that one mardi gras performer yes I would love to see her in the mardi gras film to connect with mummy as a mummy stripper no, as in one of the mardi gras people like the mardi gras people.
Speaker 2:Um, now, this next house, this is the most challenging for me and Ashley, so please bear with us. We're going to try to pronounce all of this correctly. So the next house this year is Monstros, the Monsters of Latin America, and in this house, guests will try to survive the night as they come face to face with three terrifying legends the Talapuchi, the La come face to face with three terrifying legends, the talapuchi, the la.
Speaker 3:What's this one?
Speaker 2:it's your monster. What do you call it?
Speaker 2:lalalucian lalachuza lalachuza and el saban. Now, this house is designed to immerse guests in the eerie environments where these monsters are believed to dwell. It aims to capture the essence and the fear that these legends invoke in their respective cultures. The storytelling is likely to be as important as the scares, with each section of the house telling a piece of the overall narrative. So who are these monsters? This is where it gets fun. The Tzualapuchi is a witch and vampiric creature. Some believe its history goes back as far as aztecs times, originating from a region in mexico. This creature has a very specific ceremony in which it transforms into one of a series of animals, most commonly a turkey-like vulture, and it would fly to the house of its victims and suck their blood the next monster is la loo laloo.
Speaker 2:What are you lalooches?
Speaker 3:lalooches, a combination of an old woman and a witch. This creature holds the ability to transform into a humanoid with barn owl features. One of the many terrifying and creepy things that she can do is disguise her voice to mimic an infant to lure her victims, to capture and kill them. She could go baby silently by using some kind of magic thread that she made pass through cracks on the roofs and ceilings. She would make sure that the tip of the thread was touching her victim's head or belly button and then extract the blood from there. She is a legend of Honduras, guatemala and north of El Salvador, yuck.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that one sounds gross. Yeah, now this last one. I think it's my favorite out of all of the monsters in this house. It is El Sibón, also known as the Whistler. Now, this terrifying figure comes from Venezuelan and Colombian folklore. The legend of this is one of the most famous and feared in many areas, as it's centered around a ghostly figure known for its eerie bone chilling whistle. It's often described as a tall, emaciated figure who carries a sack of bones. In some versions of the legend, they say that the bones are of its father, while others claim it is the bones of its victims. Now, its whistle is one of its most distinctive and feared traits. It's said that the whistle has a unique and deceptive quality when it sounds close, that means it's far away, but when it sounds distant, it's actually nearby, and the pitch of the whistle changes, starting low and gradually rising in tone and its whistle serves as a warning of its presence.
Speaker 3:The next original house is the Museum Deadly Exhibits. In this house, guests are visiting the museum of international folklore, where a new exhibit, the rotting stone, is being put on display. The museum employees soon began to realize that the artifact corrupts and possesses inanimate objects, which wreaks havoc across the museum. The rotting stone is almost like a plague as it affects, as its effects on the museum seem to show a rot on the walls of each exhibit as guests traverse deeper into the museum low-key, really excited for this house.
Speaker 2:A friend of mine that I know is working in this house so I'm super excited to go in and see if I can figure out which one's her, if I even get in the house when she's in there. But totally excited.
Speaker 3:This one is giving me like Night at the Museum vibes.
Speaker 2:But like horror version.
Speaker 3:I wonder if Ben Stiller will be in it.
Speaker 2:They have a picture of Ben Stiller as, like the security guard of. That would be the best Easter egg on the planet, do they?
Speaker 1:Is that a Universal?
Speaker 2:movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think so, if his picture is not in there. I'm gonna be sad. Now this his picture is not in there. I'm gonna be sad now. This next house is the one that I am the absolute most excited for out of all of hhn, and it's gonna be ashley's favorite too. Now you've been invited to chaperone the progress county public schools field trip to the major sweets candy factory. Once inside the factory, you quickly learn that this is not like the factory with the little orange men. As children begin to devour all the free candy, something happens they begin to transform into raged filled killers.
Speaker 2:This house is the prequel to the sweet revenge scare zone from halloween, horror nights 31, while in this house, guests will meet characters like major sweets, missaffy or, excuse me, miss Treats, and Taffy. Now, taffy is a devout employee of Major Sweets and he was horribly mutilated in a factory accident some time ago, which has resulted in him having a bloated face and heavy scars. Miss Treats is Mr Sweets' ally, who helps him with his candy company and helps him turn all of the children of hollow Hills into ferocious little monsters. Now, she originally appeared in the sweet revenge scare zone uh, with the purple hair, uh, and then uh. Just a fun piece of history about this, or a fun piece of trivia, is if you look on Mr Sweet's hat, um, you'll see a little boo in his hat, as it was in the original scare zone.
Speaker 2:Back from hhn uh 31 that's so cute I don't think that's gonna be my favorite, but oh it's so it's so adorbs and it's over next to um the fast and the furious.
Speaker 3:I saw it the other day, pieces of it wow, goblins, orcs, hop goblins and witches are going to take center stage in the next house, as you are welcome into a lavish feast being prepared at the Goblin's Feast Tavern. But you had better watch your back, as you are set up to be the main course Now. This is one of the houses with the fewest details out, but you can hear the backstory for this and all the other houses that we talk about on the podcast today, on the Discover Universal podcast.
Speaker 2:They do such a good job and so the last house that we have is the triplets terror. Here we are introduced to the barmy family home on march 9th of 1984, during the barmy family triplets ninth birthday party, where they had just slaughtered their entire family love it now the serial killer triplets. Melody, harmony and junior recreate their family's murder every 10 years and in the present day, 2024, we meet the triplets as they prepare to kill and recreate the scene again in cradleton, pennsylvania.
Speaker 3:That one sounds interesting that one says they did a lot of like children murders in this one. Like you've got the candy factory. Then we have the triplets.
Speaker 2:Well, the triplets um, they're not children anymore because they do it every 10 years.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but still I wonder why only every 10 years I wonder if we're gonna know why it's every 10 years probably.
Speaker 2:We'll probably get a backstory so out of all of these sounds terrifying to me. I love it that was my favorite scare zone that year. It was just it's very um mid-century modern it's utterly terrifying excuse me, which, as you know, mid-century modern, is my aesthetic and I love everything about it. Yeah, so, um, I, I think it's gonna be great.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no that one sounds gross. Um, I am kind of you know, low-key, kind of excited for the, the goblins, that works, the hobgoblins and the witches and the goblins feast tavern, because obviously my whole food and bevy background I would love to see, like what exactly it is that we're gonna be eating yeah, it'll be interesting I know it's me. But I just want to know, like out of all, how you gonna cook me um on the discover universal podcast that we were talking about.
Speaker 2:They created these little stories, these like little 20 minute stories where they actually are acting out. Um, they have characters that are acting out what's happening and you follow this little goblin girl throughout her day as she's preparing for the feast. Um, and it sounds so good like there's such an original story behind it and everything, and I don't know. I'm excited to see. I'm excited to see all of them, but I think that obviously, candy is my favorite, so no, um the slaughter cinema sounds adorable it does, and I think that's going to be a great sequel.
Speaker 3:I love that they're continuing to pay homage to the houses and scare zones and things that they've had in the past, uh, and that we're getting sequels but I really think that we need to kind of give our opinion on the fact that they're for the first time in halloween horror night history, we are getting an all woman house is so I'm interested to see.
Speaker 2:I haven't. I haven't seen where universal has fully confirmed that like it's going to be nothing but female.
Speaker 3:God, I hope it is.
Speaker 2:I'm assuming so, though, like I'm assuming, we're going to see multiples of, you know, saskia's and Maya's.
Speaker 1:Maya, is that her?
Speaker 2:name. We're going to see their character several times throughout the storyline, so it is maybe just going to be a battle between all of them.
Speaker 3:I'm also curious to know if, like, all the characters are also going to be female. Like are we getting, like women backing up the main character as a woman? Like you know, I'm sorry, like you know what I'm saying, like that'll be interesting to see I wonder how many of that is going to be a thing like. If that's going to also be a part of it, I would.
Speaker 2:I'm curious to know that we've got just a few days by the time this airs. We got just a few days, and then we'll find out yeah, you guys will have so much fun yeah, now, if you're familiar with hhn, you are probably very familiar with scare zones, but we want to break this next section down a bit for someone who's never been or may not be very familiar with them. So, ashley, you want to go ahead and start us off absolutely at halloween, horror nights or hhn.
Speaker 3:Scare zones are themed outdoor areas within the event where actors called scare actors roam freely to interact with or and scare guests. These zones are designed to immerse guests in a specific horror themes, creating an atmosphere that extends beyond the haunted house. Each scare zone typically features unique decorations, lighting, sound effects and a distinct guests in a specific horror themes, creating an atmosphere that extends beyond the haunted house.
Speaker 2:Each scare zone typically features unique decorations, lighting, sound effects and a distinct storyline or theme now, guests walking through these zones can expect to encounter scare actors dressed as various monsters, killers or other frightening creatures. Unlike haunted houses, where the scares are more often controlled and confined to a specific scene, scare zones are open areas where scares can come from any direction, making the experience more unpredictable.
Speaker 3:Scare zones are an integral part of the overall HHN experience, contributing to festival-like atmosphere of the event. Most popular themes from past HHNs include post-apocalyptic settings, haunted carnivals, zombie outbreaks and twisted versions of fairy tales.
Speaker 2:Now for a first-timer tip. Scare actors at HHN usually stay to the streets. They don't come at people on the sidewalks. Some say that it's an unspoken rule that sidewalks are safe zones and scare actors tend to ignore people on the sidewalks and focus on the road. I'll say in my experience I have seen scare actors stay on the road.
Speaker 3:They may interact with people on the sidewalk, but I've never actually seen a scare actor on the sidewalk no, and I I think, as somebody who I avoided these like the plague, it was very simple to do, as you just kind of like hug the building. So if you do need a break from the scary everywhere, or if you're like me and you're scared shitless, you can kind of just hang out on the side. Yeah, yeah, I just kind of hug the building.
Speaker 2:Okay, now this year yes, now this year, as soon as you enter the gates of hhn, you must choose a path follow sinister, the manifestation of visceral horror, or follow surreal, the incarnation of unearthly nightmares.
Speaker 3:Just got goosebumps and the next and the next scare zone is continuing in the universal recent theme of strong female leads, with the demon queen scare zone. Get caught in an unworldly hellscape ripped from the darkest corners of your mind. Four merciless queens loyal to surreal's rule, surrounded by hordes of fanatic followers.
Speaker 2:Next up, come one, come all, to the sinister Renaissance Faire with the devious theme of medieval torture. Brave the gloriously gory homemade torture devices till you're put out of your misery at the torture fair.
Speaker 3:In the backwaters of Louisiana, you unwittingly wander onto private property where you're swamped by zombies born from the bodies of other trespassers who were killed and dumped in a nearby bog and swamp of the undead. And, to round up the scare zones, you can escape from the terrifying gauntlet of blumhouse characters, from the sinister status, from the purge and black phone to megan dancing into your nightmares. You've never known horror just like this. This means that this year, blumhouse will not be featured as a haunted house, instead putting the spotlight on many of the movies that their company has become known for in the backwaters of louis.
Speaker 2:I was so proud of you for saying it like that.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Now, over the years, guests have been greeted by many different icons, from the usher to Dr Oddfellow, the cryptkeeper, and, most famously, jack the Clown. Now for HHN. This year we do not have an icon to lead the show. However, for 33 years, the screams of thousands of eager Halloween Horror Nights, guests have been collected within the shadowy depths of the Universal Orlando Resort. With each year that went by, a new set of frights for guests to indulge, all the while their wells of terror festered beneath the billow fog up under the surface. Did I say that right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you did well Forming a monstrous manifestation of horror that lives within their hearts, an evil overgrowth that would spread its hellish grasp through the crevice of the park's underbelly.
Speaker 3:As the overgrowth expanded in size, its beating heart ripped a tear between our world and the vast universe of horrors that exist beyond our own, the never-ending void in which fears derive from Within. The universe are two distinct realms, one fueled by physical pain, while the other is plagued by psychological torment. At the helm of these worlds are two entities, sinister and surreal, who each embody the hellscapes they stand guard for. I literally have goosebumps I'm just saying I like I got my spine I'm just saying that sounds terrifying. I could.
Speaker 2:I could see, if these performers do well, sinister and surreal becoming icons. This is what I've heard my friends refer to as iconic characters, where they're not necessarily icons, but if I'm not mistaken and I could be wrong here so if you're an HHN fan, please do not cut my throat.
Speaker 3:From my understanding, most of the icons began as iconic characters and the fan base just latched on to them I mean, look at little boo little boo little boo was a pumpkin inside the pumpkin kings was no no, it was a pumpkin inside the under at the entrance yeah, to undergrowth, overgrowth, undergrowth, something like that yeah, and now has become like a cult phenomenon, like people are obsessed. I mean, I am. I have a cute little bucket hat with a little blue wallet do you see my pictures on my facebook page?
Speaker 2:no, I got to meet little boo oh stop.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I just love it. I love it.
Speaker 2:I have him as a planter yeah, and uh, I think we have, we have another friend that has him as a pillow, I think yeah um, but yeah, I I think that, and Surreal, I think there's a lot of potential here.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely. And again, have you seen the concept art for them though? Yes, I have, oh my God, it's beautiful.
Speaker 2:Can we take a moment, though, to say thank you to Universal for putting female power at the forefront of I don't want to say they're putting it at the forefront of I don't want to say they put them, they're putting it at the forefront of this hhn, but, um, I feel like they are representing women in power really well this year snaps for universal.
Speaker 2:Um, I just, I think it's great to see us taking, taking a look at this and seeing all these, these female heroes, which I think is great because, um, you know, that's just an an interlude into epic universe with all the female power that we're seeing in, um, uh, dark universe. Thank you, you know what?
Speaker 3:I am so, so excited, though, for what the cute little blumhouse walkthrough. Like I, I love the purge. The purge movies are are one of my favorites I I could watch them over and over again, and I have, and I love them. So I did not go to hh and I didn't even know hh was a thing when the purge movies came out, because I didn't watch the purge movies when they originally came out. I watched them like I don't know two, two, three years afterwards. So I think this is so cool that we get a little part, like I get a little purge blurb, and I think it's great that megan is coming back.
Speaker 3:She's she's making her reappearance yet again for for I think, a second year in a row now, and black phone looks absolutely terrifying like that I'm interested to see.
Speaker 2:They didn't say anything of it and I I'm I doubt it'll happen, but I really, really, really, really, really, really hope that we get some fanaf, some freddy fazbears five nights at freddy's.
Speaker 3:I'm good without it. I am a-okay without the five nights at freddy's, because I do not want to be eaten like a jimmy john sandwich, however however I say that, but I would think it would be. Can you imagine, just walk with me down this merch path of how cute it would be to have a little cupcake like a little cupcake like plush or something for my couch?
Speaker 3:I want the cupcake to eat no like, I want that little cupcake oh, like you want to eat it oh like a like a food option that'd be so cute until it turns out it's jelly. No, it's jelly filled too bad, it would eat you instead.
Speaker 2:Now, everyone that knows about Halloween Horror Nights knows about Nightmare Fuel, known for its high energy performances that blend horror, dark fantasy and intense music. Nightmare Fuel is a particularly intense and eerie performance that features a combination of pyrotechnics, aerial acts, fire dancing and some would say dark magic. Now the show is set in a sinister circus where performers will be bringing to life nightmarish characters and scenarios, creating a thrilling and terrifying experience for the audience and this year, nightmare fuel makes a horrifying return with a new show, Nocturnal Circus.
Speaker 3:Step right up to a dark circus, a new nightmare that carries with a sinister curse. Get trapped in a thrilling spectacle of pyro and aerialists to the beat of pulsing pound rock rhythms. The show is known for its visual stunning effects, pulse pounding soundtrack and a dark, twisted narrative that fits perfectly within the horror-themed atmosphere of Halloween Horror Nights. It's designed to be one of the event's standout attractions, appealing to fans of both horror and light theatrical performances. And my favorite back again this year, the Death Eaters will be out and about in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Diagon Alley.
Speaker 2:You know, I, I love them, I love them. I have still never seen them, what there's only been one time. This last year was the first time I ever went into diagon alley during, um, halloween horror nights and um, it was, I guess, during the time when they weren't out right, because they're only out, because harry potter land is only open, well, till midnight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because it's one of the one of the attractions that we'll talk about that has an early closure, um, but most of the times, like it's always been, hhn has been a one-night event for me, so I'm always go, go, go, go go, um. And this last year was the first time that we decided to break it down into two nights so we could focus on doing half the houses on the first night, so we weren't as rushed. And then we were like, hey, well then, why don't we enjoy some of these attractions? Uh, because we weren't planning on going to universal studios during the day that year, um, but yeah, there were no there were no death eaters.
Speaker 3:I love them. I love them. They're just so terrifying and I love them we'll'll see what happens this year.
Speaker 2:I can't wait. I hope to see them.
Speaker 3:You love them.
Speaker 2:They were very popular on TikTok last year.
Speaker 3:They are very popular on TikTok every year and I feel like they're popular on all social media platforms because you never know what they're going to do, and I think that's the cool part is they interact with guests at any given moment. They do the weirdest stuff literally to like literally known to the harry potter world. So it's kind of neat to and most of the time a lot of it the, the social media videos and stuff have been guests that aren't realizing that they're even close by, but they don't get scared of them because it's like oh my god, I remember you in the from the movies.
Speaker 2:oh my god I did see a tiktok video last year that I love. I'll talk about this and then I'll move on. Where this Death Eater approached this group and she raises her wand to them like she's getting ready to cast a spell. And then they're like if you don't kill us, we'll buy you candy. And then you just saw this like huh reaction. And so they took the Death Eater into the candy shop the candy shop that's at the back of the joke store.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Bought her a lollipop with a scorpion in it. She hands the Death Eater the lollipop. The Death Eater does this like very elegant and beautiful curtsy and then she turns around and runs out of the shop with the sucker and I was like I love that more than anything.
Speaker 2:That's so cute Because it just goes to show you that you know, not all Death Eaters were on Voldemort's side. They just had to do what they had to do. Now, in addition to the prior mentioned festivities, guests will have the opportunity to purchase themed merchandise, so you'll be able to get those little boo plushies and then they'll have probably I imagine they're going to have gonna have shirts with sinister and surreal on them or some form of merchandise. We've already been seeing merchandise coming out for all the individual houses as they're making those announcements. And, of course, the halloween horror nights tribute store, which we don't have anything to tell you about, other than we saw a big shipping container out in front of that store that just said tribute store on it. So I think you might enter there through. I think you're entering through a shipping container, I don't know. Um, also, there is special event, themed food that they've had every single year. When they did um, what is it? The house on haunted or the hill house they had?
Speaker 2:they had the tea from the tea time, but we know no details about food this year not true today, did you see?
Speaker 3:no ghostbusters no they took oh the marshmallow. Okay. So they made a s'more cute little graham cracker bottom chocolate in the middle, and then they took the the the state puff marshmallow.
Speaker 3:Thank you and they made him as an actual marshmallow I did see that they golded him up because in the second movie they like fry him and they like do that and it. They're going to be selling it during hhn, but there is a cute little rumor that they're going to be selling that during the day too. So if you are oh, that's not participating, or if you have kids and stuff like that that are ghostbuster fans, you will still be able to participate in that purchase but confirmed I'm confirmed?
Speaker 3:yes, that is the rumor that they're going to be a cute little pop-up stand, but limited, we don't. I don't know any more information other than that now I can confirm something.
Speaker 2:I can confirm one thing that universal has confirmed about food for hhn that pizza fries are back.
Speaker 3:Pizza fries are back and I did see my sign for twisted taters oh yeah, twisted taters are always there, they better be so I'm super excited to see what they come up with.
Speaker 2:With. Some of this, I bet you money. The last of us has something with corn in it the last of us or sorry, I'm thinking of last year I was like they already did that.
Speaker 3:They already did that.
Speaker 2:Favorite HHN house ever A Quiet Place.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I could see it, Because, don't they?
Speaker 2:live near a cornfield or something.
Speaker 3:Yeah, probably.
Speaker 2:So there better be something with corn in it. I'm just saying.
Speaker 3:I did see like when we were walking around, because we were just at the park a couple days ago. Then they have all the food stands and stuff out right now they are detailed.
Speaker 3:This year they look just as creepy as all the houses yes, yeah but I am super excited because guests can also enjoy select rides and attractions, like we just early talked about, with transformers and harry potter, the escape from green gods open until midnight. So that means that you can also see those death eaters until midnight and then rip, ride, rocket and mummy will be open all the way until 2 am. Because, hhn, this year, for the first time ever, every single night is open until 2 am oh, really, every, every single night.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's insane nuts. So that means you get to hear nightmare fuel until three o'clock in the morning well, I think the last show is at like 1 30 yeah, I don't know um now. The fun does not stop at the parks I know this is.
Speaker 2:This is a first for universal, though uh well, this next, this section, I'm not gonna say is but what I'm about to follow up with, um, obviously, islands of adventure. Um, they do. During this time of the year, theme parks across the country shorten their operating hours. But to make up for the fact that Universal Studios is closing at 5pm, I believe, on nights of the event, islands of Adventure will be staying open until, I believe, it's 9pm. They stay open a little later than that 7 o'clock closure during this normal time of the year. Just so guests who are at the parks do have an opportunity to still head over to the parks and have some fun especially if you have young kids and you're not participating in halloween hornets.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you can still pop over to another correct.
Speaker 2:Now, over at the hotels, we are seeing, in my opinion, as someone who I stay at the hotels every single year because I used to fly down here, um, and before you could go to Cabana Bay, and on the second floor in our lobby building, they had this room that was filled with photo opportunities and you had to have a hotel room key in order to get into that room. Now it's unconfirmed if Universal will be partnering with Lowe's Hotels to do that specific photo op again, but we are seeing the most hhn at any of the resorts that we ever have and this is where it's the first for universal hotels.
Speaker 2:So, um, obviously there's going to be free transportation if you're staying at the resorts provided to and from um, your resort guests have a dedicated access from 6 30 in the evening to 7 30 in the evening, which in years past you would enter into the blue man group theater area and you would enter into that area.
Speaker 2:If you're not familiar for that, look for the signs. You can ask any of your team members at the hotels or in city walk and they will guide you to that right direction. But they usually have a very large sign. It's over next to rip ride rocket to the left of universal studios main entrance.
Speaker 2:Um, we are also seeing festival or, yeah, festively themed lounges at multiple resorts. So right now I I have confirmed cabana bay, aventura, dockside and surfside all of their bars will be getting a theme over layover, uh, for halloween horror nights. Now it's not necessarily confirmed that it's going to be like HHN House's level, like theme over, but I know in the past, like the Cabana Bay, they get decorations around their bar and Halloween Horror Nights stuff and it always looks great and I believe that they do have some special Halloween Horror Nights cocktails during that time. And I did see that they said that there will be themed photo opportunities, but they didn't specify at any of the hotels. However, I did see on social media today that at Sapphire Falls Resort their lobby received a full makeover down where their big Christmas tree goes and there's tons of like just weird purpley creature looking things for you to take photos with, so I'm super excited about that, but what's um?
Speaker 2:have you ever been to any of the resorts?
Speaker 3:oh gosh, no, I've avoided that stuff like the plague scared me the idea that a hotel would be spooky I'm so excited to take you this year.
Speaker 2:It's gonna be so much fun I can't wait um, but yeah, I mean that's that's kind of what we've got going on over at the hotels, which is is exciting to see that it's going over as far as that, and then we're not going to talk about it today. We probably might do a special episode after our season ends because, as you guys know, our season is coming to a close. We've got one more episode I'm not going to say it's coming out next week, it may be a week or two just because we want to get through the Halloween Horror Nights opening and get things going, and then we'll probably talk about our trip to HHN and a couple other things as we start to wrap things up. We still plan on doing our interview with Mama Ashley Rose, so obviously that'll be in season two, but we do plan to come to you guys with a couple of maybe random, one-off episodes.
Speaker 2:Our review of Tiana's oh yeah, If we ever get on to Tiana's Bayou Adventure, we'll definitely throw an episode up. We need to pop over there at some point.
Speaker 3:When I inevitably drag you to Mickey's Not so Very Merry or Mickey's Very, very, very Merry Merry Christmas Party, something like that, because I will be taking you to one of those that's going to be. Like that, because I will be taking you to one of those that's gonna be. I mean, if you buy my ticket, you can take me to not so scary halloween but it's sold out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, correct for like the whole year. Um, and our trip to to new jersey? Yeah, so we do have that coming up. We've got a very busy end of year and our we do a christmas party and a new year's party I throw. This will be my second annual christmas and new year's party, and we'll will be my second annual christmas and new year's party and we'll be throwing my birthday slash halloween party yes, your birthday is coming up, oh my god having a fallout themed this is gonna be a lot yeah, we got a lot going on guys.
Speaker 2:So, that being said, please, please, please, please, please, please, be sure that you have liked and subscribed the podcast on whatever platform you listen to.
Speaker 2:That way, if we do post any random one-off episodes between now and the new year, you'll receive that notification. So you know to chime in and listen to the episode. And please do us a big favor, guys. We've got 30 to 30 over-ish as we get through this off season episodes out there. We ask please share our podcast with um, don't other people he knows better, not to say my line oh no, please share it with other people so um they can you know, jump in and listen and hear what we got going on and they hopefully will like and subscribe.
Speaker 2:Uh, and then next season. We're not fully announcing anything right now, but we have a couple of ideas in the pipeline right now. We know that some of you guys have reached out to us and asked if there are ways that you can help support us. Um, so we have a couple of ideas of things that we're looking at doing next season to help us keep the lights on.
Speaker 3:Two is going to be wild, though, because we're coming out with um new like what do you call it? Our logo is going to be different. We're working on a new logo. We're working on we're working on some merch, because we're gonna start doing t-shirts and stickers. We're working on so many things. It's gonna be just oh you, oh up is going to look so, so different oh you p.
Speaker 2:Oh you. I had to think for a second. I was like what's? Oh you p orlando unplug podcast um but yeah, so, that being said, feel free to reach out to us on social media, uh and everything, if you guys have ideas or anything that you want us to cover. As we roll into season two gives us plenty of time to put stuff together this is gonna be so wild.
Speaker 3:One more episode, yeah, and if there's anybody out there that wants to potentially be involved with us?
Speaker 2:feel free to reach out. Let us know. We've got tons of ideas and things planned. We just need the funds and the manpower behind it, just like a cute little break. Yeah, just a cute little break as we navigate the most chaotic couple of months.
Speaker 3:Oh hey, navigate, um, the most chaotic couple of months. Oh, hey, also be sure to follow us on all of our socials so you can stay up to date on everything that we're doing outside of the podcast, um, not just our podcast, not just the oup's podcast page, but also mine and dustin's podcast page, so you can our, mine and dustin's personal page, so then you can see what we're doing in our day-to-day lives, which a lot of it is drinking coffee and working, um, but it's still a hoot and a blast.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, be sure to follow all of that and now, if you guys want to, you can follow me personally at dustin underscore paul on instagram. You can also follow the. So I think for us, facebook and instagram are where we are most active. Um, so you can just look up Orlando Unplugged Podcast on Facebook and then, if you want to follow the podcast, it is Orlando underscore Unplugged Pod. If you guys want to see what we're doing, we will still be posting there at least once every week or every other week, because we are still going to be doing things. So, yeah, what's your Instagram handle?
Speaker 3:My cute little goofy daughter. What is it? That's what it, my cute little goofy daughter. What is it? That's what it is. It's goofy daughter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you said my cute little goofy daughter and I was like that's not a handle.
Speaker 3:Your handle is goofy daughter, don't yell at me. This is not yelling.
Speaker 2:I'm being very cutesy, very demure right now.
Speaker 3:I'm so done with the trend.
Speaker 2:I'm so done with the trend.
Speaker 3:I'm so done with it. You know what I've decided for season two, what we're gonna do an asmr episode.
Speaker 2:I'm totally here for it. Are you all right, guys?
Speaker 3:until next week, stay safe, stay educated and, of course, share a podcast with your friends, your family and your favorite bartender. Bye, bye, stay spooky spoopy spoopy stay spoopy, always spoopy.
Speaker 2:It's spoopy season.
