The Thing: Assimilation (2007)

Halloween Horror Nights Orlando attraction
Image from CriminyCrafft's Photobucket.
The Thing: Assimilation
Attraction type	Haunted House
Event	Halloween Horror Nights: Carnival of Carnage
Park	Universal Studios Florida
Area	World Expo
Year	2007
Housed in	Sprung Tent 1
Based on	The Thing (1982)
Followed By	The Thing (2011)

The Thing: Assimilation was one of the eight haunted houses that was featured during Halloween Horror Nights: Carnival of Carnage. It was located in Sprung Tent 1. The haunted house was also an unofficial sequel to the 1982 film, The Thing.

History and Location

A haunted house based on the original Thing movie was planned to appear at Halloween Horror Nights: Islands of Fear. However, this house idea was scrapped. The idea of a Thing house would return in 2007 with The Thing: Assimilation. This house would be an unofficial sequel to the Thing movie from 1982. The story of the house was created by Universal.

The house was one of the first haunted houses to feature the use of primarily animatronics and puppets.

In 2006, Universal built two hurricane-proof tents behind the World Expo area of the park specifically for holding Halloween Horror Nights haunted houses. This house would be located in the southernmost one (called Sprung Tent 1).

In 2011, a haunted house based on The Thing prequel was built.

Description

A secret facility in Florida studying the Bio-hazardous remains of Arctic outpost 31 accidentally unleashes someTHING.

Website

On the Halloween Horror Nights: Carnival of Carnage website, guests could click on the attraction page for this haunted house. There, Jack would occasionally pop up where the description of the house should be. After clicking on an entry ticket, guests would be taken to the backstory page for the house.

On the backstory page, guests could see a desk in a research station. Clicking on a blood sample would cause a jumpscare to play as a Thing pops out of it. Guests could also click on a computer screen to view a video discussing the testing done to the Thing. Finally, visitors could click on another computer screen to view messages regarding Outpost 31.

On the carnival page, guests could click on a truck with the label "What Is It?" to see a locked door and a keypad. Guests would have to enter the correct code in the keypad in order to open the door and see a secret preview video for the house. The answer would be on a floppy disk in Jack's bus. Clicking on it would show a computer, which would type out various messages. At the end, it will show an error code number (3113), which was the answer to the puzzle. In Jack's bus, guests could also click on a radio to hear a short audio clip. Finally, guests could also see a white queen, a black bishop, and Outpost 31, Antarctica circled on a map in Jack's bus.

Website Pictures

Images from the Halloween Horror Nights: Carnival of Carnage website until otherwise noted.

Image from the now defunct horrornights.be.

The floppy disk that held the solution to the puzzle. Image from the now defunct horrornights.be.

The solution to the puzzle. Image from the now defunct horrornights.be.

The rest of the images are from the Halloween Horror Nights: Twenty Years of Fear website.

Website Videos

HHN 17- "The Thing- Assimilation" House Preview

Video that played when the carnival puzzle was solved.

Website Audio

Music that played on the description page:

Audio that played occasionally on the description page when Jack popped up:

Audio that played occasionally on the description page when Jack popped up:

Music that played on the Backstory Page and in Jack's bus when the floppy disk was clicked on: Main Theme (From The Thing)

Audio that played on the Backstory page when the Blood Sample was clicked on:

Audio that played on the Backstory page when the first Computer Screen was clicked on:

Audio that played on the Backstory page when the second Computer Screen was clicked on:

Audio that played on the Backstory page when you hover over a message on the second Computer Screen with your mouse:

Audio that played on the Backstory page when you clicked on a message on the second Computer Screen:

Audio that played on the Carnival page:

Audio that played on the Carnival page when guests clicked on the first or third number for the code:

Audio that played on the Carnival page when guests clicked on the second or fourth number for the code:

Audio that played on the Carnival page when guests entered the incorrect code:

Audio that played on the Carnival page when guests entered the correct code:

Audio that played in Jack's bus when the radio was clicked on:

Scareactors

• Officer John W. Campbell Jr.
• Dr. Bottin
• Dr. S. Winston
• Dr. Russell
• Dr. Brimley
• Lt. Carpenter
• Blair-Thing
• Lt. Cundey
• Private Davis

Experience

Queue and Facade

Guests would enter the queue near the entrance to the Barney show. Guests would go through the queue for the Barney show, and would eventually reach the Barney show area. Going through a backdoor, guests would head towards Sprung Tent 1.

As guests approached Sprung Tent 1, they would see a fence with a sign that said "United States Government Air Force. Bio-Research Facility. Outpost 3113. Warning Restricted Area. Unauthorized Prescence Considered a Breach of Security. Use of Deadly Force Authorized. AUTHORITY: Internal Security ACT 50. USC 797."Guests passed by a large Unimog truck and entered through a long plastic tunnel that connected the outside world to the sterile environment of the labs. Immediately, the blare of the alarm and flashing lights indicated that all was not well.

Haunted House

As guests passed through the entryway, they were startled by a soldier armed with a shotgun suddenly bursting from his hiding place in a locker in the security office. The soldier attempted to communicate the danger in the labs through the intercom on the other side of the plexiglass window, but was distracted by something in the hallway behind him. He fired his shotgun at the mysterious creature behind the wall, only for an unseen force to pull him back out of sight.

Guests passed by the frozen bodies of MacReady and Childs and entered an autopsy lab. The body on the table has burst open, and a massive multi-tentacled organic mass has stretched from its chest and is beginning to spread across the ceiling. As the body and tentacles twitch and shake, a soldier appears from an alcove and begins firing his assault rifle at it.

Guests passed by several doors, which opened to reveal scientists begging for help before being pulled back by tentacles. Passing through another plastic tunnel connecting the labs to the rest of the base, mutated Thing dogs began to push their heads through tears in the plastic and bite at the guests.

In the storage room, a spider-head clung to the fence as an infected scientist reached for the guests. A body pinned to the fence that divided the room in half had a Venus Flytrap-esque growth emerging from its chest, which shook and hissed as guests walked by.

The rec room seemed empty except for the lone soldier, armed with a pool cue from the nearby table and barricading himself with the vending machine. Suddenly, strobes flashed and a massive Thing with a dog's head growing from its chest appeared from a dark corner.

In the larger warehouse, the UFO from Outpost 13 was seen hanging from the ceiling, along with a taller humanoid thing perched on a crate. A soldier appeared from behind a stack of crates and fired at it over the guests' heads. Guests entered a kennel, where the growling and barking of scared dogs could be heard.

In the final room, a gigantic Thing had taken over the entire back wall, tentacles and limbs emerging from the mass of flesh. As guests exited, a loud air horn sounded and air blew at the exit door.

Pictures

The Layout for The Thing: Assimilation.

Picture from disneyfan1313 on the TPR Forum

Photo From D. Gerow

image from Daniel (IronHide on Flickr)

image from Daniel (IronHide on Flickr)

image from RexandtheBeast on Flickr

Image from Zachariah R Couch

Soundtrack

The Thing - Main Theme

Trivia

• Outpost 31 was revisited in the Warehouse eXXperience.
• This was one of the earliest houses to make very heavy use of non-human scareactors, with almost every scene having some kind of puppet or animatronic.
• The assault rifles used by the soldiers were a mixture of sound effects and strobe lights on the muzzles of the guns.
• Originally, there was a half-assimilation scare in the containment room scene, but it was scrapped.
• The operating room scene originally contained a dead body with tentacles being revealed, but this was scrapped.
• A hallway scare with a body puppet being slammed against glass was supposed to be featured but was scrapped.
• In the original finale for the house, a victim was supposed to be emerging from a Things chest, screaming while assimilated.
• The words of “What is it?” on the carnival page seems to be a reference to a roadside attraction in Arizona