Metro West
On the west side of Orlando
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2005
Hey gang...
Just spent another fun time at HHN opening night and although it rained the whole night, I enjoyed myself. Here goes...
I got to the Studios right around 3:45pm...saw Phamton on her way to work. The weather was gorgeous. Nice and sunny...not too humid. I went to Louie's and grabbed a bite to eat and then just walked around a bit.
Around 4:45pm I decided to head over to the holding area but they weren't letting anyone in yet. There was a huge group of people waiting to get into Finnegan's that slowed everyone else down. Once their tickets were all scanned, they let the rest of us in, scanning tickets as we went. There was only one entrance and exit because of the construction. The holding area was a train wreck from the work go. No one seemed to know what was going on with the people going into Finnegan's (they kept coming and coming) and blocked the entrance to the holding area. There were no drinks or snacks available which is not usual but I guess it had something to do with the weather coming into the area. I staked out a nice spot that was covered in case of rain which came in handy. It started raining around 5:30pm and everyone was running for cover...which was in short supply. Around 5:45pm or so, a Team Member yelled "Are you guys ready for the first house"? Well...it was still raining but everyone was psyched to be released. Five minutes later, we're still standing there but then finally we were released about 5:55pm.
This year, the houses have VERY LONG queues...much longer than in the past. The S & S house is Silent Hill so that's where everyone went. It started raining harder while we were walking through the stage area of the Universal Music Plaza. Once through the house, we came out and it was raining pretty hard. I got soaked on the way out and ended up buying a poncho for $7.20 (with AP discount) at the Despicable Me store. I'd already toured two houses Wednesday night (The Walking Dead and Alice Cooper) so I didn't need to do those again. Since I was already soaked to the bone, I decided to knock out the other two soundstage houses and then head home. My next house was Gothic. The queue was long...I mean long. Once out of that house, I then went to Dead End. That queue was even longer! Once those houses were done, I decided to see what the wait times were for the other two houses. I headed towards House of Horrors and walked right into that one with only a ten minute wait. The last house was P & T's New(KD) Vegas. There was a 30 minute wait for that one but I knew that was the last house I had to do.
It's still raining as I headed towards the front of the park to purchase my annual trinkets (t-shirt and tall shot glass). I then headed for Spiderman 456 where the car was parked and headed for home...still raining the whole time.
Here are my opinions on the houses from best to worst:
So to sum it up...all houses were enjoyable to me except Alice Cooper but maybe it will get better as the event wears on. This is also the first year that I've had all the houses done the first weekend...in recent memory.
I do not know if they did the lagoon show but I heard fireworks when I got home so maybe they did.
Unfortunately because of the rain, not many scareactors were running around the streets tonight so that was a let down.
Parking was $15.00 until 8pm...8-10pm was $5.00 and free after 10pm.
The one thing I noticed that was different from previous years was the length of the queues. They are much longer this year than I've ever seen them. Some were the same but several (House of Horrors, Gothic and Dead End) were super long. So get ready to walk a LOT at HHN.
I'll probably go back tomorrow night for a while and do some of the houses again but I wanted to share my experience with you all.
If you have any questions, I'll try my best to answer.
Just spent another fun time at HHN opening night and although it rained the whole night, I enjoyed myself. Here goes...
I got to the Studios right around 3:45pm...saw Phamton on her way to work. The weather was gorgeous. Nice and sunny...not too humid. I went to Louie's and grabbed a bite to eat and then just walked around a bit.
Around 4:45pm I decided to head over to the holding area but they weren't letting anyone in yet. There was a huge group of people waiting to get into Finnegan's that slowed everyone else down. Once their tickets were all scanned, they let the rest of us in, scanning tickets as we went. There was only one entrance and exit because of the construction. The holding area was a train wreck from the work go. No one seemed to know what was going on with the people going into Finnegan's (they kept coming and coming) and blocked the entrance to the holding area. There were no drinks or snacks available which is not usual but I guess it had something to do with the weather coming into the area. I staked out a nice spot that was covered in case of rain which came in handy. It started raining around 5:30pm and everyone was running for cover...which was in short supply. Around 5:45pm or so, a Team Member yelled "Are you guys ready for the first house"? Well...it was still raining but everyone was psyched to be released. Five minutes later, we're still standing there but then finally we were released about 5:55pm.
This year, the houses have VERY LONG queues...much longer than in the past. The S & S house is Silent Hill so that's where everyone went. It started raining harder while we were walking through the stage area of the Universal Music Plaza. Once through the house, we came out and it was raining pretty hard. I got soaked on the way out and ended up buying a poncho for $7.20 (with AP discount) at the Despicable Me store. I'd already toured two houses Wednesday night (The Walking Dead and Alice Cooper) so I didn't need to do those again. Since I was already soaked to the bone, I decided to knock out the other two soundstage houses and then head home. My next house was Gothic. The queue was long...I mean long. Once out of that house, I then went to Dead End. That queue was even longer! Once those houses were done, I decided to see what the wait times were for the other two houses. I headed towards House of Horrors and walked right into that one with only a ten minute wait. The last house was P & T's New(KD) Vegas. There was a 30 minute wait for that one but I knew that was the last house I had to do.
It's still raining as I headed towards the front of the park to purchase my annual trinkets (t-shirt and tall shot glass). I then headed for Spiderman 456 where the car was parked and headed for home...still raining the whole time.
Here are my opinions on the houses from best to worst:
- 1. Gothic - themeing was excellent...scares were good.
- 2. The Walking Dead - great house...themeing was great...excellent scares.
- 3. Dead End - themeing was excellent...scares were excellent as well.
- 4. Silent Hill - great themeing...good scares...could have been better.
- 5. House of Horrors - mostly black lit but good scares and you DO crouch down but only for a couple of minutes.
- 6. P & T New(KD) Vegas - not much of a fan of theirs but still entertaining. It's more of a fun house type atmosphere than really scary. Still...the scares were decent.
- 7. Alice Cooper - just wasn't impressed by this house...random scenes that made no sense.
So to sum it up...all houses were enjoyable to me except Alice Cooper but maybe it will get better as the event wears on. This is also the first year that I've had all the houses done the first weekend...in recent memory.
I do not know if they did the lagoon show but I heard fireworks when I got home so maybe they did.
Unfortunately because of the rain, not many scareactors were running around the streets tonight so that was a let down.
Parking was $15.00 until 8pm...8-10pm was $5.00 and free after 10pm.
The one thing I noticed that was different from previous years was the length of the queues. They are much longer this year than I've ever seen them. Some were the same but several (House of Horrors, Gothic and Dead End) were super long. So get ready to walk a LOT at HHN.
I'll probably go back tomorrow night for a while and do some of the houses again but I wanted to share my experience with you all.
If you have any questions, I'll try my best to answer.