HHN Opening night report

[flbeachbumnut]

Thanks so much for your report! I am a bit worried too about the queues being so long. My husband can't walk fast at all and I wonder if the lines are moving fast since they are so long. (is there room to just let people in a rush pass us?) We won't have Express on Sat night and planned on just doing 3 houses that night S&S then just hanging out. Sunday night we will have express but wanted to do the other 3 early then repeat everything with express. Going to try to get TWD in 2 times but not sure. Really sorry about the rain, I live in Fort Myers and we haven't had a break in it for days. Sick of rain.

 

[alebisi]

Thank you for your report , on thursday this will be the very first time I attend to this event. Can't wait to hear more about the scareactors when it doesn't rain.

 

[Metro West]

Thanks so much for your report! I am a bit worried too about the queues being so long. My husband can't walk fast at all and I wonder if the lines are moving fast since they are so long. (is there room to just let people in a rush pass us?) We won't have Express on Sat night and planned on just doing 3 houses that night S&S then just hanging out. Sunday night we will have express but wanted to do the other 3 early then repeat everything with express. Going to try to get TWD in 2 times but not sure. Really sorry about the rain, I live in Fort Myers and we haven't had a break in it for days. Sick of rain.

In most cases there is room for people to pass you. Some queues have more room than others but I don't you'll have a problem.

 

[stich626]

I think the Alice Cooper house will be lost on me too. I hope the rain stays away for you to go again tonight. I am curious about the penny circus

 

[lee33lyn]

What are the soundstage houses? Our first time is next Thursday night and can't wait. Just trying to get a game plan together.

 

[Maytrix]

I was there last night as well and did the AP passholder area and early preview. My opinion is a bit off from Metro's.

We were already in the park and started to move to the AP area at the end of the day. That's when the rain started. He ducked under an awning and waited it out - at least until it slowed down. We then made our way to the AP area, check in and waited some more for the rain to die a bit.

Once it really lightened up, we headed to House of Horrors. While waiting in the queue, the sky really opened up again. The rain alone wouldn't have been horrible, but the rivers and deep puddles we had to work around and eventually walk right through really made things unpleasant. Our whole group was soaked top to bottom at that point and it just wasn't comfortable. So we headed back to at least change and perhaps would come back if the rain let up.

About 9pm after changing and dinner, we were back in the park (3 of us anyway, the ladies stayed at the hotel). We headed to Alice Cooper, Penn and Teller and then to the Walking Dead. The walking Dead was moving so slow and we really wanted to see Bill and Ted's, so we ducked out of line and headed to Bill and Ted's. After B&T, we went back to the Walking Dead and it was closing time when we came out.

So all we got to was those 4 houses. I liked Penn and Teller's house and the Walking Dead. The other two were simply ok - nothing I'd repeat and nothing that impressed.

Bill & Ted's was decent, but not as good as I remember it being in the past.

Overall, I found the night to be a bit disappointing. Partly due to the weather, but mainly due to the event not living up to past events we'd been to. We took a few years off, but were there starting in 2003 through 2008. I think any one of those 6 years were probably more impressive than this one and there were a couple out of those that were plain excellent - like the one that spanned both parks. I also think Bill & Ted's was better when in the stadium in IOA.

So I'm not disappointed that we went - we did have a good time, but this year probably ranks 7 out of the 7 we've now been to. I also did get the ROF pass, so I could go back tonight but really have no desire to wait for what will likely be a fair amount of time to do 3 houses. 1.5-2 hours of waiting to spend 15 minutes total in 3 houses just doesn't seem worth it.

Like I said though, it was still fun and had the weather been better, we probably would have made it to all the houses. My original thought for ROF was that it wasn't much more to add tonight and I figured we might want to see B&T a second time or see some houses a second time, but that just isn't the case.

Hope the weather is much better for everyone tonight!

 

[Metro West]

What are the soundstage houses? Our first time is next Thursday night and can't wait. Just trying to get a game plan together.

The three sound stage houses are: Silent Hill, Gothic and Dead End. All are pretty good.

 

[Marquibiri]

This might be weird but rain doesn´t bother me at all. I have my small raincoat tucked away in my fanny pack and I wear crocs with no socks, so I do not get wet at all.

The only downside is that scareactors are scarce.

My plane leaves in about 36 hours!!!

Cheers!

Marquibiri

 

[JessicaR]

The rain can really put a damper on HHN. It;s like a completely different experience especially with the scare-actors in the streets. For me wet and cold isn't a good combo. Hope those of you get to do it again rainfree!

 

[lee33lyn]

Does anybody know where the gate is for the early entry hotel quest, based on the map? Trying to get a battle plan for hitting the houses.
This is our first HHN.
thanks in advance Leebo

 

[Metro West]

Does anybody know where the gate is for the early entry hotel quest, based on the map? Trying to get a battle plan for hitting the houses.
This is our first HHN.
thanks in advance Leebo

It's to the right of the main gate. There are signs telling you where to enter.

 

[xApril]

Just as a sidenote, they now have a path open along the lagoon, so you can cut from New York to Hollywood by Mel's. No more walking around the entire park. Saves your energy for walking to the house entrances.

 

[KigerKat]

Can you guys tell us what other US attractions are open for the event? I saw a list from last year, but I don't think anything was confirmed for this year.

Thanks!

 

[Metro West]

Can you guys tell us what other US attractions are open for the event? I saw a list from last year, but I don't think anything was confirmed for this year.

Thanks!

Despicable Me, MIB, Rockit, The Simpsons and Revenge of the Mummy.

 

[schumigirl]

Thanks for the review MW.....sorry you got so wet! I wouldn`t have hung around in that weather.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your visits, look forward to hearing about them

 

[PammyK]

Just as a sidenote, they now have a path open along the lagoon, so you can cut from New York to Hollywood by Mel's. No more walking around the entire park. Saves your energy for walking to the house entrances.

Thank goodness! It was a little ridiculous to have to loop all the way back to the main entrance area!

 

[PammyK]

Hey gang...

Just spent another fun time at HHN opening night and although it rained the whole night, I enjoyed myself. Here goes...

...

This year, the houses have VERY LONG queues...much longer than in the past.

...

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.

...

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.

Hi Metro,

Had somewhat similar experiences to you on Friday night. In fact, I was in Cat 457, so we must have arrived around the same time, though I headed over to IOA to relax at Backwater before heading over to HHN. I'm glad we did because we were warm and cozy at Backwater during the worst of the rain. Mind you, we still were pretty dang soggy by the time we left, but it could have been worse.

Completely agree with you about the queues - they are looooonnngg - almost deceptively so - with many unexpected corners and curves. But hey, you won't have to feel guilty if you skip the gym on a day you're visiting HHN because all the walking will definitely make up for any missed workouts.

I'm in agreement with your top and bottom houses, though I might switch around the middle houses just a bit. As someone who only caught the HHN bug 2 years ago, I don't have the same history as some of you, but I really felt that all the houses, with the exception of Alice Cooper's Welcome To My Nightmare, were extremely well done.

I think someone else suggested a similarity between Cooper's house and the Poe house from last year. Here's the thing though. Even if you didn't know Poe's stories to figure out what the different scenes represented, there was still an overarching theme of Poe's descent into madness that held the house together. I didn't see that in Cooper's house so it just seemed a mish-mash of random things that really weren't all that frightening. Perhaps there are connections to Cooper's music that I am unfamiliar with that might help make the house more coherent, but for me, it was the most disappointing house.

Bill & Ted was more enjoyable than last year but some references did seem obscure to me. Might be because of my age though. Was really happy that the annoying Great Gazoo alien dude did not make an appearance (name hidden for those who want to avoid spoilers).

Oh, and I was really happy to see that they addressed one of my biggest complaints from last year - the poorly fitting, overly fake looking masks and prosthetics that most of the house scareactors wore last year. While this year still had a lot of masks/prosthetic pieces, costuming and cosmetology did a MUCH better job of seamlessly blending makeup and masks to make the characters feel more realistic and less "oh look, there is an actor with a big shiney piece of plastic over his/her face" like it did last year. So kudos to them for that as I think it really enhances the atmosphere of the houses.

 

[Laurabearz]

Great Report Metro! Gosh I wish I was going this year!!

Sigh... maybe next year!!

 

[crathy21]

My husband LOVE haunted houses so I bought him tickets to HHN since we will be at Disney the week of October 7th. Since we have never been the Universal I would like to try at least a couple of the rides. Do you have any suggestions on how to best work in a couple of rides between haunted houses? I know we won't be able to make it thru everything in one night but would like to do a little of both (rides & houses). Regarding rides I would like to try Despicable ME, MIB and The Simpsons.

Thanks for any input!

Cathy

 

[keishashadow]

thanks todd seems the crowds are forming earlier at Finnegans.

Alice fan here. For those not familiar with his music, thought i'd throw this out. Have read elsewhere that this house follows one of Alice's recurring characters' evolution thru his music over the years - Steven. btw, Alice tends to rarely spell out the specific origins/meanings of his songs, although mental instability and child and spousal abuse are prevalant. There are several theories out there as to exactly why Steven is such an unstable, totured soul, all rather disturbing and definitely fodder for a creepy house.