A Salute to All Orlando Area Theme Parks But Mostly Walt Disney World ***THE END***

[wiigirl]

Love all your pics!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Oh my gosh what a fun (in a scary) way night! I used to be more of a fan of scary movies and houses but now I think I'd just punch the first guy that jumped at me! The warning signs outside the houses are quite comprehensive but they forgot my favorite... make sure you empty your bladder so you don't pee your pants!

Looking at the promo photos of the creepy scary dudes it made me think that after a particularly satisfying reaction from a park guest, I would just bust out laughing. I suppose laughter is out of character so that counts me out.

Great job creating your shirt. I was trying to see what it was in your 1st photo. I knew you were not mixing your Disney and US so well done Mr. Rob!

Loved all your photos.

Haha, It was great Brenda. Yeah, they tend to get a little upset with the punching.
Plus they are seriously strict with the security. I've heard lots of stories where someone at Epcot "might" share a taste of his/her drink. At HHN if you even let someone underage hold your drink to tie your shoe, you could easily get kicked out. Very strict!

I do like your extra warning and one I thankfully did follow.

I know right!? Well we did have the one guy bow for us, so I guess that was technically out of character.

Thanks Brenda! Nope, no Disney/Universal mixing going on here. I just wanted something specific for the event so I thought it worked.

Thank you Brenda! I wish I had better ones, but in the daytime the actors are moving so much, it was hard. And at night, the lighting's almost impossible to work with. Thankfully I was able to find some better ones around to compliment things.

No way!!!

Here's mine, from the mid 80's (photo today)

Yup, that's EXACTLY what mine looks like Dee. Such a cool keepsake.

I still can't believe how large your condo was! Thanks for taking us on the tour of the property. What time was that? And where was everyone???

I enjoyed reading about your day and night at Universal. I appreciated your review of Twister. We haven't done that before, so it was nice to hear your description.

Christopher Walken totally makes "Disaster!" worth it. Have you ever watched/listened to him reading "Where the Wild Things Are?" Hilarious!

I am so glad to hear the two of you had a blast at HHN. Universal really nails creepy and terror! Nice job on your shirt.

The condo was great for a longer stay. So much extra space. The photos were at around 9:30 or so. Honestly, I never even thought about there being no on in the photos. Haha. I guess most people were already either headed to the parks, or sleeping in. I know most of the units were booked, so there was definitely people there somewhere.

Thank you. I didn't take a lot of photos around, so just describing everything was about all I could do. Twister is very cool to experience.

I remember seeing this for the first time and being absolutely blown away. A few years ago me and a couple friends did this, and afterwards 2 of us were talking about the "hologram" and the third said she thought it was a real person and wouldn't believe us that he was fake.

HHN is really a blast if you like that type of thing. So much fun!

Love all your pics!

Thanks so much!!

 

[katt789]

Yeah!! We're at the Quality Inn right there! Yay! Haha.

Nice HHN updates, I think I would either end up punching someone or crying within the first few moments of the houses...like, I like it and HATE it so much more. There's a certain level o being scared that I love haha.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Yeah!! We're at the Quality Inn right there! Yay! Haha.

Nice HHN updates, I think I would either end up punching someone or crying within the first few moments of the houses...like, I like it and HATE it so much more. There's a certain level o being scared that I love haha.

Wow, that's so wild and funny. As I write this you're actually there right now, haha.

Haha, yes, they can get pretty intense. Sadly, many of the actors actually do get punched. Not an easy job for sure.
But the houses aren't that bad. I generally hate "boo scares", but for some reason this was just fun. I think I laughed more than anything else.

 

[teekathepony]

Hahaha I have to admit I don't love Halloween and I'm a huge wuss who doesn't like to be scared. MNSSHP is about as scary as I like things! Lmao love the virtual walk through of all the horror nights stuff so far, but I guarantee ill never see it I. Person!
Too bad the WLking Dead house didn't really wow you too much. I can't wait to see the rest (from the safety of my own home! Rofl)

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[DisneyKid4Life]

Hahaha I have to admit I don't love Halloween and I'm a huge wuss who doesn't like to be scared. MNSSHP is about as scary as I like things! Lmao love the virtual walk through of all the horror nights stuff so far, but I guarantee ill never see it I. Person!
Too bad the WLking Dead house didn't really wow you too much. I can't wait to see the rest (from the safety of my own home! Rofl)

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Haha, that's ok Wendy. MNSSHP is scary too.

I was very disappointed in The Walking Dead house. I probably had my expectations too high, but since Universal was promoting the entire event around it, I think it was justified. It still had some outstanding moments though.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

IT’S TIME TO GET OUR SCARE ON!
Day 7 – October 14, 2012 Part 3


Darkness was finally starting to settle in over HHN as we headed to our next destination, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure.

This is basically a pop culture spoof show featuring, well, Bill and Ted, and a host of other actors portraying pop culture characters.

Overall, I just didn’t like it. I got the jokes; I just didn’t think they were funny.
It’s worth a look once though.
Because it was an election year, it was very skewed to political humour.
The show changes every year, so your mileage may vary.

After the show, I stopped for a photo op with a lovely blood bag (jello shots) girl.

Before we headed to our final house,

Penn and Teller Nuked Las Vegas.

This was the “comedy’ house this year.

PROMO

The premise is that magicians Penn and Teller upped the ante on their classic bullet catch trick, opting to instead use a nuclear warhead.
This goes terribly wrong, and what we’re left with is Las Vegas, post nuclear.

Penn and Teller themselves even showed up at different times during the event's run, though not on this night.

This was also a 3D house, but honestly, apart from one room inside which seemed to have thousands of lights creating a very cool and disorienting effect; the 3D was lost on me.
Cool souvenir glasses though.

This house featured a lot of gags, complete with do it yourself style interactive elements.
For instance, there were buttons you could push that caused something to happen to guests behind you which you could view via a two way mirror.

You also had a variety of disfigured Las Vegas staples like showgirls, blackjack dealers… Elvis.

But it was the clown at the end that had Katie running for the exit and leaving me thoroughly entertained.

PROMO

All of the houses completed, we just decided to tour the park and take in some the atmosphere and some of the “Legions of Horror” that were roaming around.

I thought this was a clever touch…

The Rat Lady… with real rats.

OK… THIS Guy.

Katie had run ahead to get set up to get a photo with him, but he never took his eyes off of me.

See that structure on the left? That’s where his buddy was hiding.
So, as I slowly approached, our eyes locked, the OTHER one jumped at me.

Yeah… they got me good.

This is Rosie AKA Fox Girl.
She became a HUGE star at this event.

The Warriors getting ready to be unleashed.

While roaming, we came upon the vampires again, so I started shooting some video.

I did not see this guy coming.

K8 tried to take a selfie with this guy, but it didn't turn out.
He's a vampire after all.

This prompted the quote of the night.

"He licked my face. I have random stranger spit on my face."

I don't know. I found it funny.
Actually, she did too.

Express was also good for the rides, most of which were open.

The only one we did, though, was the Mummy...

Partly because it seemed appropriate...

Partly because it's just flat out AWESOME.

Prior to Manta opening, this was my favourite ride in Florida.

Just before we boarded, the TM (Team Member) working the ride scared K8 half to death.
It was too funny.

Even off the streets in the relative safety of a ride, she still got targeted.

The atmosphere around the park was awesome.

My overall thoughts on the event…

I LOVED IT!

We both did.

It's obviously a different atmosphere than MNSSHP, but it is insanely fun.

I would never go to this without express access though because the lines are long and pretty boring.
Walking Dead hit 3 hours wait and the rest weren't a whole lot less.

Goodnight HHN!

Thanks for scaring me!



UP NEXT… “UNIVERSAL’S GREAT... BUT IT AIN’T DISNEY!”​

 

[emmysmommy]

I Loved your parting quote... Universal's great but it ain't no Disney!! So true.

To me (being the wimp that I am) it just looked creepy with all those vampires and ghools roaming around. I KNOW that's the point but I 'm not into being randomly scared. I get mad! Reference the punching remark in my last comment! (And really, I'm a very peaceful person!) With all that said, I'm REALLY GLAD that you enjoyed your evening!

The concept for the nuked Vegas is awesome. I love Penn and Teller so that would be interesting to see.

Kate is a better woman than me with that dude that licked her on the face. I'd have to have had about 6 drinks in me before I found it beyond ick!

Seriously, I'm glad that you had a great evening!

 

[courtneybelle]

New reader on board! I read through the entire report today and I am loving it so far! The part about being a shareholder made me laugh out loud. I really want to try Manta on our next trip in August, but I'm also scared...haha we'll see how it goes when I get there!! Going to head over to your other TR now!

 

[khertz]

Oh man, I was NOT a fan of HHN when we went a few years ago!! I only went in one house, and I hated it so much I waited in the shops while DH went through the rest. I just don't like being scared! But it sounds like you and Katie had a great time, and that's the most important thing. The only thing I enjoyed the whole night was the Bill & Ted show, so just goes to show you how on opposite ends of the spectrum we were from each other as far as the HHN entertainment goes.

 

[silverhaze269]

I really enjoyed your HHN review It's probably as close as I'll ever get to the event, seeing as how I'm a huge wuss Though, I wouldn't mind being one of the scareacters..

My dad went last year, and he didn't have the express pass. My mom, dad, and brother went on a cruise last October and they stayed an extra 2 or 3 days after the cruise got back in port, before they flew home. They took one of those days to do USO. My dad being in love with all things horror, especially the classic horror films, just HAD to do HHN...it was a bucket-list thing for him. Now, he'd been in the park all day long, and then stayed for HHN without an express pass. I should also mention he has arthritis in both knees... so apparently by the end of the night he was a pretty convincing zombie when my mom and brother went to pick him up. He said he did enjoy it, despite being dead tired (excuse the pun), extremely hot, and probably dehydrated. He hated the waiting though, and I think he only got to 3 houses, so he said that if he ever went back, he would get an express pass and not be in the park all day long beforehand.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

I Loved your parting quote... Universal's great but it ain't no Disney!! So true.

To me (being the wimp that I am) it just looked creepy with all those vampires and ghools roaming around. I KNOW that's the point but I 'm not into being randomly scared. I get mad! Reference the punching remark in my last comment! (And really, I'm a very peaceful person!) With all that said, I'm REALLY GLAD that you enjoyed your evening!

The concept for the nuked Vegas is awesome. I love Penn and Teller so that would be interesting to see.

Kate is a better woman than me with that dude that licked her on the face. I'd have to have had about 6 drinks in me before I found it beyond ick!

Seriously, I'm glad that you had a great evening!

Yup, oh so very true Brenda. I will expand on that in the next section, that's for sure.

It was definitely creepy, but oh so much fun. But yes, I think it would be best that you avoid this event. The actors tend to frown on getting punched.

I love Penn & Teller too. Their house was fun for sure. I think the 3D concept kind of hurt it. It would have been so cool if they had been there. My understanding is they were actually there just the night before. So close.

Bahaha. To be honest, I've watched the video and I'm not completely convinced this actually happened. But I can't be 100% sure. Also, we "may" have had some drinks in us by this point.

Thanks Brenda, we really enjoyed it.

New reader on board! I read through the entire report today and I am loving it so far! The part about being a shareholder made me laugh out loud. I really want to try Manta on our next trip in August, but I'm also scared...haha we'll see how it goes when I get there!! Going to head over to your other TR now!

Yay Wow, the whole thing in one day, I'm impressed. Thanks so very much!
Haha, I do enjoy being such a huge shareholder and all those perks.

Manta is SOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOD. I just love it. I does look intimidating, I'll give you that. But it is so smooth and freeing. If you ever wanted to know how it feels to fly, this is the ride to do it.

Thanks so much for reading!!!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Oh man, I was NOT a fan of HHN when we went a few years ago!! I only went in one house, and I hated it so much I waited in the shops while DH went through the rest. I just don't like being scared! But it sounds like you and Katie had a great time, and that's the most important thing. The only thing I enjoyed the whole night was the Bill & Ted show, so just goes to show you how on opposite ends of the spectrum we were from each other as far as the HHN entertainment goes.

Hahaha, that's too funny. The weird thing is I normally totally hate "boo scares". Like really hate it. But here it was just so much fun for me. Generally the ghouls were more interested in attacking K8 than me on the streets, but I did get it good in the houses a lot.

Funny too that if you had hidden in the shops this year, the ghouls could come after you. No where was safe (other than apparently the bathrooms). Though I did hear stories of them waiting at the exit.

The thing about the B&T show is the year you saw it, I may have liked it. It's hard to say. I saw a video of the show from HHN at Universal Hollywood from last year and I liked it a whole lot better.

I really enjoyed your HHN review It's probably as close as I'll ever get to the event, seeing as how I'm a huge wuss Though, I wouldn't mind being one of the scareacters..

My dad went last year, and he didn't have the express pass. My mom, dad, and brother went on a cruise last October and they stayed an extra 2 or 3 days after the cruise got back in port, before they flew home. They took one of those days to do USO. My dad being in love with all things horror, especially the classic horror films, just HAD to do HHN...it was a bucket-list thing for him. Now, he'd been in the park all day long, and then stayed for HHN without an express pass. I should also mention he has arthritis in both knees... so apparently by the end of the night he was a pretty convincing zombie when my mom and brother went to pick him up. He said he did enjoy it, despite being dead tired (excuse the pun), extremely hot, and probably dehydrated. He hated the waiting though, and I think he only got to 3 houses, so he said that if he ever went back, he would get an express pass and not be in the park all day long beforehand.

It was indeed my pleasure. It was SO MUCH FUN! I honestly didn't find it scary at all. I can imagine going through a house alone could be scary, but there's always so many people around, it's hard to get too scared.

Wow, your dad did it alone? That's guts. Being in the park before it opens helps a lot, but lord the lines develop quickly when it opens. I was shocked at how hot it was in October so I can see getting dehydrated rather easily. I am so glad I bought the express passes. It would have been miserable without it. It's especially true if you only have the one night. I'm glad he enjoyed it nonetheless.

 

[teekathepony]

I YouTube'd the Bill and Ted show... well, part one of three. Couldn't watch any more... not too impressed myself actually, though I generally don't tend to like humor that relies solely on making fun of others and that's all it seemed to be.
I loved your review of everything HHN! I admit that I'm now fully convinced that I will never see it in person, too scary. But I enjoyed it through your eyes!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

I YouTube'd the Bill and Ted show... well, part one of three. Couldn't watch any more... not too impressed myself actually, though I generally don't tend to like humor that relies solely on making fun of others and that's all it seemed to be.
I loved your review of everything HHN! I admit that I'm now fully convinced that I will never see it in person, too scary. But I enjoyed it through your eyes!

Yeah, it just wasn't good. K8 liked a more than I did though, but it just didn't click with me. What you described is all it really is. If I do get back, I may just skip it altogether.

Thanks Wendy. Haha, well at least now you know. It can be intense at times. They don't recommend this event for anyone under the age of 13 for a reason I guess.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

UNIVERSAL’S GREAT... BUT IT AIN’T DISNEY!
Day 8 – October 15, 2012 Part 1


Our evening of horror behind us,
We set our sites on that other Universal park that is home to that other Orlando area castle.

We arrived at Universal’s Island’s Of Adventure bright and early, but not quite at opening.

Because the park was already open, I decided NOT to make a sprint to Wizarding World,
Figuring the waits would already be on the way up.

So, I thought it would be a good idea to hit up some of the other rides while their waits were short since everyone generally rushes right to Potter.

The first thing on the agenda was the Hulk!

It’s a pretty sweet ride, but if it wasn’t for the great launch (think RNRC but angled up), it feels a bit lacking.

I was surprised when K8 told me after that she found it boring.

I’m going to point out here some of the MANY things I dislike about Universal.

First, very few of the Universal rides have pouches, meaning you have to get a locker EVERY TIME you ride for pretty much everything you have with you.
I get that to a point.

However, the lockers are locked and re-opened by using a finger scan.
In my experience, these do not work well at all. Your mileage may vary.

They just never open for me, which is what happened here.

K8 went off to find an attendant (which proved very difficult itself) who then basically makes you feel like an idiot even after showing him that the thing won’t open.

After some grumbling he will open the locker after you describe what is inside.
That part I get, but why the attitude?

The lockers outside each ride are free but for a very limited time.

Basically it amounts to the current ride wait time plus maybe 5 minutes leeway.

If you go over that time, you’re charged $3… PER HOUR.
Remember this for later.

Also, Universal is EXTREMELY stingy with the ride photos.
Good luck trying to get a redneck photo here. You will get yelled at.

This makes no sense to me since the display has so much text written over the photos that they’d be barely usable anyway.
As a result, I refuse to buy ride photos from Universal which is strange since I do buy them at Disney even though I could get at least something viewable for free.

I guess it’s the principle.

Before I continue, I do want to state for the record that I like Universal.
Their themeing is exceptional (particularly at IOA) and their rides are top of the line.
Pound for pound, Universal’s ride technology is generally better than Disney currently.
There I said it, and it’s not an easy thing for me to say.

They’ve been spending money like crazy to add to their parks with the phenomenal Wizarding World, Transformers, an entire Simpsons themed area, even more Harry Potter, a new parade and nighttime lagoon show, and on and on.

Where they fail is in that intangible feeling you get when in Disney.
Whereas I go to Universal for the rides (and they are wicked), I can go to a Disney park and ride nothing (and I have) and still be unbelievably happy and satisfied.

Universal will just never be Disney.

Anyway, on to The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman.

This ride is amazing. Truly amazing.

For those unfamiliar, you ride in a normal dark ride style vehicle though an animated 4D environment.

This had recently been upgraded using 4K video and it was truly stunning. I highly recommend it.

The most amazing thing is, this attraction opened in 1999, and it is STILL one of the best ride experiences around.

I may grumble about some things at Universal, but their ride technology, I will not.

I also find it extremely comical that Disney OWNS all these characters but can’t use them in Orlando.
It’s just so bizarre.

When we left here, we skipped across the street to get some photos with the man himself.

The screen allowed for a pretty cool digital background if you wanted to pay for it.

We did not.



CONTINUED NEXT POST​

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Day 8 – October 15, 2012 Part 1 Cont.


We continued on through Toon Lagoon

Finally arriving at the entrance to Jurassic Park.

Since the wait was low, we jumped on board the Jurassic Park River Adventure.

The closest Disney rides I can equate this to are Jungle Cruise mixed with Splash Mountain with Dinosaurs.

The drop is bigger and more intense (80 feet vs 50 feet), but Splash is more charming.

It’s a really good ride nonetheless and the animatronics are very good, particularly the T-Rex before the drop.

We did get pretty wet on this, but it was plenty warm outside, so I wasn’t worried about remaining wet for long.

Finally, we were heading towards the entrance to the Wizarding World.

On the way though I came across this

He was some kind of mouse type creature (if anyone knows, please share) who was right out in the open on the pathways.

I was scared he would get stepped on, so I picked him up and moved him to a safe location.

What can I say, I love animals.



TO BE CONTINUED… ​

 

[teekathepony]

I feel precisely the same way about Universal. Im a huge Harry Potter fan (maybe fanatic!) and I admit I do love what they did with the wizarding world, but it will never be enough to bring the on level with Disney.
I also found the Hulk a little boring once we got going! It was so big that everything felt slow and the turns were wide. And I was nervous going on too.
I wonder if some day Disney will be able to use the marvel characters in Orlando... I imagine they would. I hope so!

I like Jurassic park. We call it Splash on steroids.

Is that little guy a chinchilla? Something like that maybe? I really am not sure. Nice of you to move him, whatever he is!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[wiigirl]

Awesome pics!

 

[katt789]

Having only been to Universal once, I can't comment too much on it but it definitely lacks that Disney feel, I think that's why I steer clear of it. I dunno, I'll get over there eventually I'm sure, but for now the HP section is my only desire to go there. And I'm gonna wait til it's expanded.

Sounds like you guys had a decent morning aside from the grumpy employee at the lockers! Is Jurassic Park scary? Like, dark and things jumping out at you or?