For most of us, advance planning means that – a whole week
ahead of time – you know what you’ll be doing over the upcoming Fourth of July
weekend.
Michael Roddy (he’s the one on the right), Director of Show Development for the Universal Orlando Resort. Photo courtesy of Gregory Nicotero
Whereas Michael Roddy … Well, he’s kind of the King of
Advance Planners. As Director of Show Development for Universal Orlando,
Michael doesn’t think in simple seven day increments. He can’t. After all, this is the
guy who has to look months & years down the line in order to properly pull
off those seasonal events that have come to define this Central Florida Resort.
Of course, given the size & scale of Halloween Horror
Nights at Universal Orlando (Which – this year – will run from September 25th
through October 31st), it’s easy to understand why some advance
planning might be in order. But few folks outside of Universal’s Show
Development office really understand how far back Roddy & his team begin
kicking around concepts for these seasonal events.
“So when did we first begin talking about what we wanted to
do for the 2009 Halloween Horror Nights?,” Michael said. “That would probably have been the Summer of 2008. With
that year’s event, we were going to be finishing up a three year arc of stories
that started with our Sweet 16 event, continued with Carnival of Carnage and
then finished up with our Blood Mary / Urban Legends event. And given that we had
Halloween Horror Night’s 20th anniversary coming up, we knew that we
wanted to build to something really big.”
Copyright 2009 Universal Orlando. All Rights Reserved
Which is why Roddy and his creative crew decided that they’d
launch a brand-new three year arc, which kicks off with 2009 “Ripped from the
Silver Screen” theme. Where the
spotlight this time around has been placed on the characters & settings
from the “Chucky” & “Saw” films
as well as Universal Pictures‘ upcoming reimaging of that
Studio’s horror classic, “The Wolfman.”
And once that “Ripped from the Silver Screen” theme had been
settled on … Well, that’s when the Halloween Horror Nights production machine
really kicked into gear.
“Seamstresses here at the Studios have been working on
costumes for this year’s Halloween Horror Night since January,” Michael
explained. “Our prosthetics people have been making new make-up appliances
since March. And we’ve been swinging hammers on our mazes since the first week
of May. “
Me personally, that’s what I find really fascinating about
Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando. That all of this work can be
going on in secret year-round
behind-the-scenes, only to then be sprung on the public come September. Whereas
Roddy takes a far more practical view of the whole process.
Copyright 2008 Universal Orlando. All Rights Reserved
“What I take great pride in is the fact that – every year –
we’re able to build & then launch this huge seasonal show without
disrupting the day-to-day operation at Universal Studios Florida or negatively
impacting the Guest experience,” Michael continued. “Of course, part of the
reason that we’re able to do that is that we can take advantage of Universal’s
soundstages. But even then we have to work around whatever’s in production at
that time.”
Mind you, Universal Orlando needs hundreds of performers in
order to properly staff
the haunted houses that will be presented at the 2009 edition of
Halloween Horror Nights. Not to mention all of those ghouls who wander through
the streets of the Studio, menacing Guests. So where does Roddy recruit these
people from?
“We’ve actually got a pool of regulars that we draw from,
people who come back year after year because they just love working Halloween
Horror Nights,” Michael laughed. “We’ve just sent out reminder notices to those
folks that we’ll be holding reunion auditions in July. And once we see who
we’ve got coming back, then we’ll begin holding our regular Halloween Horror
Night auditions.”
Copyright 2009 Universal Orlando. All Rights Reserved
So as you can now see, Halloween Horror Nights is a pretty
big deal at Universal Studios. This seasonal event employs a mini-army of
people – both in the Park and behind-the-scenes — who then have to deal with the thousands of Guests who come in after-hours throughout September & October. All
with the hope that this year’s edition of HHN will scare the pants off them.
And given that Roddy is the general in charge of this
mini-army, does he feel stressed? Pressured? Hardly.
“I just love this part of my job,” Michael enthused. “That’s
why I’m in the Park every night that we hold Halloween Horror Nights. So I can then make sure that all of those
months of hard work & advance planning really pay off.”
If you’d like to get some sense of the effort that Roddy
& his team have already put into the 2009 editon of Halloween Horror Nights
at Universal Orlando, why not head on over to the official website? Where
you’ll find that tickets for this year’s event are already on sale.