Gosh, I remember my first HHN, way back in 2002, for HHN 12. We didn't even know what HHN was - we bought tix and wandered in, clueless, thinking it was some sort of Halloween party, with no idea of what we were about to experience. Fog was everywhere at the entrance, a sign of things to come, and the creepiness started right there. Pretty sure there was one basic ticket back then - no backstage tours or holding areas or early admission, but the frequent fear pass was offered - for $19.95 (added to a paid admission) for Sunday through Thursday admission to the party during its duration.
We were totally blown away by this experience, which was held in Islands of Adventure. I still have the event guide in my desk, looking at it now. The houses were Scary Tales II, Evilution (totally insane, was in the Jurassic Park area, absolutely crazy fear with all the fog and scare actors jumping out of the bushes there), Fear Factor (a disappointment, as I recall), Maximum Carnage, and Screamhouse. Imagine it this way: what if you never heard rock music before, and suddenly were exposed to the Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, and other greats one night during a three hour concert . . . that's how eye - opening this was, and it hooked me on HHN forever.
HHN was so simple then, and it seems more complicated now with all the different choices of tours - and the huge crowds now attending. We went on a Saturday night in 2002, and managed to do two of the five houses fairly quickly, with long waits for the other three, but we did get through all five houses without an EP. The atmosphere at Islands really added to the experience; I was somewhat disappointed when we finally returned to HHN in 2012, at the Studios, and it did not seem nearly as frightening as it had at Islands ten years prior. The scare actors in 2002 really nailed you, jumping out of the bushes everywhere with their fake chain saws roaring, and with the fog machines really cranking out the gloom and obscuring everything nearby - at some places we could barely see ten feet in front of us. When those scare actors attacked, they really got you!
I remember wanting to get out of there, it was so intense, and I was so on edge anticipating a scare actor jumping out of the bushes that we stayed right in the middle of every walkway - what a sense of relief when we finally made it back to the entrance. It was, without doubt, the greatest theme park adventure I've ever experienced - and we had no idea it would happen that night. Really special!
I knew there was another by E.T., but that was it... I've only done the Finnegan's one for the last what 8 years....
