IOA Caretaker last minute mascot for Halloween event
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Much of the success of this year's Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure park can be traced to the high-visibility marketing effort revolving around the "Caretaker." Anyone watching Orlando television, listening to the radio or having a detectable pulse was introduced to the iconic undertaker with stringy, dead gray hair and lidded eyes. His popularity with the gooseflesh set is all the more welcomed by Universal because the Caretaker was a last-minute substitute — for a little girl.
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"They've used a scary clown character for the last 12 years," says John Davis, senior art director for Davidandgoliath Inc., Universal's California-based advertising agency. Led by Davis, the agency was charged with creating a new character.
Ummmmm, I hate to tell their senior art director, but I've been to every HHN from the beginning Fright Nights days, and the clown(Jack) has only been the mascot since 2000. They kept him again in 2001 when 9/11 happened and they semi-scrapped the ICU logo (with Eddie - supposedly Jack's more evil brother). Each year has kinda had it's own theme (in fact '99 was the Mummy, '98 was called Primal Scream, etc).
-Shady
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How long is the wait time from this point?
Well last minute or not, that damn mascot was CREEPY. When I was there last Thurs night I couldn't get over the awesome job they did with him.
He even made an appearance in Scream House, and scared the crap out of me, too! :)
This was my first HHN and while I got a little pissed halfway through the night (worst...crowds...ever) it still ended up being an awesome time and something I definitely look forward to in the future. I'll just pick a less crowded day to go.
Joe "Fear Factor was the worst Haunted House ever" C
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"No honey, the monkeys have already done enough damage on this trip." - Guy coming out of front gate at SFGAd
"We came up with Cindy," says Davis, who fondly describes the fruits of their labor: a possessed little girl with a piercing stare and an air of mystery about her. "We loved the idea of using someone so unexpected," says Davis.
Oh yes. A sweet innocent child as the embodiment of evil is soooooooooo original.
Whatever.
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~~~ Maddy ~~~
After being in the Scream House line and hearing the caretakers creepy voice and seeing him I definitely think he was a perfect choice. At first, I didnt think he would be all that effective, but after going to the event I will have to give Universal two thumbs up for the job they did with him.
Also, ill second the Fear Factor comment. :)
While I didn't see HHN this year, I was able to go when Jack was the mascot. The rides were walk-ons, but the haunted houses had huge lines. I didn't care though...still waited for all of them. I must say that Nightmare Creatures and Torment were some excellent houses. I really wanted to get down to see it last year, though, because of the maze aptly named RUN!
Oh, and where it says "Clown charactor for 12 years", it could have been a typo and only read 2.
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-Kyle Brylczyk
KoRn - Untouchables
Joe C. says he'll pick a less crowded day to go...if you find one, let me know. Man, even Sunday night was PACKED, my friends who went Saturday said it was wall-to-wall people. "Sold out" must mean an INSANE amount of people....
I certainly know nothing at all, but I *think* the fact that the rides did NOTHING to help haunted houses' lines is part of the reason for the move to IoA. Better rides SEEM to have helped as Hulk was running lines over an hour, Spidey not QUITE as long, Dragons at 20 minutes....wish they had done more to "spook up" the rides (like some other parks), but you can't do everything I guess. Wettest flume ride I EVER had anywhere....DDR Sunday night! Bill and Ted's was *over the top* and had virtually every pop icon lambasted for our amusement - a GREAT show!
The ENTRANCE to the park was great, the fog effects covered most of the park, characters EVERYWHERE, even enjoyed the bubbles.....the contortionist in Scary Tales' queue area was beyond belief....wish I lived closer!
bill, thinking that with those crowds, you'd need to go at least 3 days to see/do everything...putting in a vote for Caretaker over Jack....and thinking there was enough peeps to cover BOTH parks with stuff and have a real BLOW-OUT.....
Yo Jamin
Did Amanda tell you we said what's up when we were at Dragons? LOL, she said you were "a freak" now...I'm assuming she was referring to you being a scare actor? :)
Did you work Thurs night? Any idea why they let the gate stay open til 1am (THANK GOD)?
Joe "HHN was fun times" C.
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"No honey, the monkeys have already done enough damage on this trip." - Guy coming out of front gate at SFGAd
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*** This post was edited by Jamin Bohl on 10/24/2002. ***
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