30 Years & Counting HHN 2021, XXX Let’s Stick This One!

[ClapYourHands]

Thank you! I think we'll plan to head to CP and hang back a bit. We don't really need to be first, LOL. And bring ponchos.

I do expect it to be crowded that night. That has been my experience with Disney around those dates. I know many people heading to UO for our ATL Metro area fall break this year.

For CP, if you go to the upper area, it’s holding for Beetlejuice. If you go to the lower area, it’s for Hill House. The Hill House line starts on the lower path, and then gets moved over to the area outside Animal Actors. We were there on Thursday. The line snakes around a bit, and then the later arriving people were put inside the Animal Actors theatre. I assume into the bleachers, but don’t know because we were towards the front. The line outside goes right next to the covered area with tables, so we were able to sit down to eat the dinner we brought with us.

The Beetlejuice line starts on the top path of CP, and then snakes down after the Hill House line gets moved over. We were at the top by the platform which was a pleasant place to sit; my son went to lie down in the grass just opposite. After getting settled there, you can leave the line; you’ll get a blue return ticket. My son left for the bathroom. The group in front of us sent someone for pizza, and they ate it picnic style.

Honestly, it was a pretty chill and orderly line, definitely not a mass of humanity. Whichever you choose, you’re going to be in a line by 5, and you’ll be held there until at least 5:30, probably closer to 5:45. For us, getting there a bit early gained us a more pleasant spot to pass the time. Both times we brought our own food, and planned for that to be our dinnerbreak.

 

[pas130]

Don’t know what to tell you but will say I received an email with a confirmation number and info of my tour meet up time.

it basically confirmed where to go for the tour to sign in

I received the email quickly, same day I booked by a phone call

You can call VIP tours and have them send you the confirmation number and standard form letter that acknowledges your tour

I booked my tours the day bookings started
Maybe they are doing confirmation letters at a slower pace now?

Tours are at different time periods
Call Vip Tours so you know your meet up time

Thanks Mac, I'm going to call. I have a date and confirmation # but no time to meet up. JUST to make sure I booked the time I think I did I am SO looking forward to EVERYTHING!!!

 

[macraven]

Call VIP tours and they will be able to give when your assigned tour begins
Try to check in 30 minutes before your tour.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Ultimate Frequent Fear Pass checking in!

I went last night with a small group.

Before last night, we just went over Sept 9 (thursday) because we thought being the first Thursday it might not be too crowded. We didn't get there till 9 which is probably one of the more crowded hours. It was way more crowded than we wanted for a Thursday so we walked around to see all the scare zones then we did Bride with about a 25 minute wait. We left after about an hour and a half since we all had to work.


So here is my report, let me know if anyone has questions. I'll break it down by time in case that helps people. We also plan to attend maybe once a week from this point out.

Friday Sat 17

4:30 pm We arrived at the parking garage for Stay and Scream.

4:40 pm Into US. We stopped for an icee and walked through the Tribute Store.

5ish pm Into the corral for the NY/Finnegan's area.

There were two lines. We could get in line for Bride or Texas Chainsaw. The Bride line was longer and we'd already done that house so we got in line for Chainsaw.

The carnival type food booth was right next to our line so one of our party members got the deep fried PB&J to eat in line. It was basically an uncrustable. I had a bite and it was ok, not a lot of jelly and I'm pretty sure it would have made me sick if I'd eaten more. She threw it away with a couple bites left. She liked it but thought it was better in small doses.

5:32 pm Our line started to move to Chainsaw. Bride had started to move right at 5:30.

I don't think the house was ready immediately, we ended up waiting about 10 minutes to go in. I'll do my house rankings and thoughts at the end after my timeline review.

5:54 We were out front and checking on Tooth Fairy/Icons. Tooth Fairy said they weren't loading til 6:15 (not sure if this is everyday or just our night). Icons was loading and the TM told us the house opened at 6.

Waited roughly 10 minutes for Icons. When we came out of the house it was absolutely pouring. One of those crazy deluges. People were hiding wherever they could. We all had umbrellas so decided to make our way to Diagon Alley. This kind of ruined our strategy for the night, if it hadn't been pouring we would have either gone to do Bride or checked to see if Tooth Fairy was open.

We slogged through an empty park. Our shoes got soaked (though to be fair they had already been soaked from the short walk from Icons exit to the next shelter). We made it into the Leaky Cauldron and were the only people there. We each got some dinner, which also hadn't been the plan, we meant to eat at the HHN booths later. We ate our food while checking the rain.

6:30ish roughly the rain let up and we headed out of Leaky Cauldron to an almost empty park. We decided to check out Wicked Growth because I knew that was a popular house. We were very dry except for our poor shoes/socks which were soaked.

6:40ish we basically walked into Wicked Growth. They opened up the long queue lines so we had to walk an empty queue but the only wait was the time it took us to walk there.

6:56 we went next door and waited maybe 5 minutes for Puppet Theater. It was closed when we got in line for Wicked Growth due to some flooding from the rain. It had just reopened when we got out of Wicked Growth.

Sorry I don't have pictures from this time so my exact time of night is a bit shaky.

We headed over to Scarey. Waited less than 5 minutes. When we left there was absolutely no line and we thought about going again but our friend wanted to leave by 8 and we were trying to knock out as many houses as we could, so we carried on.

7:15 got in line for Beetlejuice. The line said 35 minutes and it did actually end up taking 30 minutes right on the nose. Hill House had said 25 minutes but we guessed that Beetlejuice would only be higher when we got out of Hill so we picked Beetlejuice.

At this point our friend needed to head out so we walked through the Gorewood Forest scare zone with her. This was our first proper scare zone of the night since the scareactors were rained out of the others.

We separated at Case Files and my BF and I waited exactly 15 minutes for Case Files.

Walked through the Lights Camera Hacktion scarezone.

8:31 Next we got in line for Tooth Fairy. Ended up waiting 9 minutes.

We wanted to try to hit Hill House but the posted wait was 45. We headed that way anyway hoping the line would drop. Passed Central Park 3 minutes before the 9 pm lagoon show so decided to stop and watch. There were no rail spots left so we stood a little bit off to the side of the rail right near the entry.

9:12 show over, walked back through the Gorewood scare zone. Hill House was up to an hour and our wet shoes were bothering us so we didn't really want to wait.

We ended up doing a circuit of the park on our way out and hit Crypt Tv and Seek and Destroy.

9:29 we got in line for Bride. You can pretty well judge the line length for this house since most of it is in view. Only waited 12 minutes. We passed through 30 years 30 fears on our way out and were headed out at 9:50 and home before 10 pm.

I feel like this is not a good night to go off of for planning. It was a Friday night, but we got absolutely drenched for maybe half an hour. I'm pretty sure this caused people to either leave or put off coming.

So that was our timeline! I'll do my next post with my rankings and a couple pictures.

 

[macraven]

I your trip report!
Really do !

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I have now done all the houses save Hill House and the only one I've done twice is Bride so I'll let you know my thoughts. Though I really think houses are subjective and I don't think anyone should skip any of them because you never know what you'll like.

I also need to add a disclaimer. I don't really get scared at HHN. Every once in a while a jump scare will get me but I'm more of one of the types of people who likes to look at all the detail in the houses. So as far as scariness goes....not sure if any of the houses stood out as scarier than the others but I don't easily gets scared so... yeah.

Scare Zones

Honestly I'm not that impressed with any of the scare zones this year. It very well could be they have fewer scare actors in them because of COVID and maybe lack of people to hire.

5. 30 years 30 fears: at the bottom of my list. This is the entry scare zone so it's mostly a selfie zone just like in years past. It's a narrow space so they don't even have a lot of area to work with.

4. Crypt TV. I have never seen any of the shows so maybe that dampens my view. Most scare actors seem to be up on the stages and just nothing really works for me there.

3. Seek and Destroy. What a bizarre scare zone. The helmeted people just kind of look like Cobra Kai and I really don't get it. I might be alone here but I always love when they put the Purge in the NY area. It just fits so well and I think it works.

2. Lights Camera Hacktion. I enjoy all the different little genres and scenes we get. It's better than Crypt TV (in my opinion) because the scare actors are able to walk around and do their thing.

1. Gorewood Forest. I absolute love the lighting effect on the trees. This area always seems to get a great scare zone. I love the actors with the stilt type hands, I think breaking up the human profile is a great way to make things just a bit freakier.

Shows

We have so far only seen the lagoon show so that's all I can rank.

Marathon of Mayhem. I was mostly meh about this show. Some of the effects are cool (chainsaw and blood water) but other than that I couldn't really even find an overarching story beyond: look at this random assortment of properties we have that we got the rights to put in our water show. I wouldn't recommend waiting very long for this. Maybe try watching one of the later shows and see if you can walk up right before it starts to get a good view.

Houses

Just FYI we did not get a chance to do Hill House yet so it's not on this list.

9. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
I thought the Chainsaw house they had a few years ago for HHN was perfection.
Even with that being said, this house was really just meh. I liked the pig puppet, that's about all I can say. Maybe I just need to do it again but I was not impressed.

Chainsaw was really the only house I disliked.

8. Scarey
I am pretty sure that I missed every single scare in this house. I didn't think it was a bad house, just for now it doesn't rank very highly on my list. I'd like to do it again and see if it goes higher on my list. I do really like the idea of Carey Ohio and I hope I enjoy this house more later on.

7. Revenge of the Tooth Fairy
I absolutely love the entryway to this house and I like the narration. However, I think it just got a bit tired with the fairies always looking the same and being the majority of the scares.

6. Wicked Growth Realm of the Pumpkin
I fully expect this house to go higher as the event goes on, I know it tops the lists of lots of people. I didn't dislike this house, it just doesn't hit the top of my list. I did like how they got the pumpkin smell exactly right. It wasn't a pumpkin pie smell but more like the smell you get when you're carving pumpkins.

There isn't a lot separating the houses at the top of my list.

5. Case Files Unearthed
Really really love the overall story of this house and the narration. I like houses where the theme jumps around, keeps it fresh.

4. Beetlejuice
This house runs in the same vein as Ghostbusters. Was it scary? Not by a long shot unless the jump scares get you. But it was extremely faithful to the movie and it was like stepping into the film. Beetlejuice is not one of my favorite movies, or else the house would rank higher. Loved all the details and how Beetlejuice greets you as you enter.

3. Bride of Frankenstein
I am a sucker for the Frankenstein movies so of course I liked this house. The entryway was such an impressive show.

2. HHN Icons Captured
I highly recommend watching a youtube short history video on the Icons if you aren't familiar with them. It will massively increase your enjoyment of this house.

1. Puppet Theatre Captive Audience
This is where it comes into play that I think everyone should experience each house. Because for me, the whole old time theater scenes really plays into my enjoyment of the house. Is everyone as into theater type stuff as I am? No way, but it definitely adds to my enjoyment and makes the house rank higher. I also liked the baby powder smell (actors used to use it to set their makeup).

I'm pretty sure my rankings will change as I experience the houses more.

I didn't take too many pictures this night since it was raining a vast majority of the time and I had my phone tucked away safely. Here are a couple of my favs.

 

[macraven]

Super write up you presented to the readers !

I’m sure house atmosphere will change as the season continues on

Hope your next evening of hhn is rain free
it makes a big difference when weather is better

 

[keishashadow]

8. Scarey
I am pretty sure that I missed every single scare in this house. I didn't think it was a bad house, just for now it doesn't rank very highly on my list. I'd like to do it again and see if it goes higher on my list. I do really like the idea of Carey Ohio and I hope I enjoy this house more later on.

it’s always gratifying to see a reviewer acknowledge that you really can’t get a definitive feel for a house on one walkthrough…just too easy to miss the timing.

5. Case Files Unearthed
Really really love the overall story of this house and the narration. I like houses where the theme jumps around, keeps it fresh.

you’ve summed this up in two sentences better than I’ve seen so far! Still, haven’t wrapped my head completely around the premise. Looking forward to checking it out.

thanks for the detailed comments.

 

[Jessem1133]

Have any of the HHN food options been available during the day? Was looking forward to trying the Twisted Taters if they’re available!

 

[Monykalyn]

Still haven’t seen Icons or TCM.
Hill House-not particularly scary but some creepy parts and I LOVE the series, definitely stays true to series.
Beetlejuice-not at all scary, like Stranger things was for me- gorgeous sets, the entry IS vertigo Inducing though as a warning. Another true to movie one and just overall fun.
Scary -really cool. 2nd run got a couple scares. This is one I’d love to do a lights on tour thru
Wicked Growth-was expecting more, only one run thru, so holding judgement. Facade is AMAZING though. Think I just missed most scare.
Case files- I love this house. Even though I didn’t get all the scares on either run yet. Really lookin forward to lights on tour. Did get a couple good scares too
Bride-another one I really like. Not too many scares but well done, if you are a classic monster fan this is a good house.
Tooth Fairy- creepy. I used to have dreams of teeth falling out after braces removed so I am biased but I really liked this house. First run I got genuine scare as I swear at one point I was surrounded by monster fairies
Puppet theater-another genuinely creepy house - have enjoyed both runs so far
Scare zones: more photo ops (clogging up walkways) than scary: gorewood forest, seek and destroy (this is just weird)m crypt tv (watch out for all the selfies going on). 3o years, 30 fears is just near entry. Lights camera Hacktion is the only one with chainsaws echoing thru fog-best zone.
have 4 more HHN nights including UtH tour and private RiP. Will see if impressions change!

 

[macraven]

Thanks for sharing that !

 

[Robo56]

Can’t remember if I read this here or elsewhere, but someone asked if any of the HHN food booths are opened during the day. They are not. They are only open during HHN.

The HHN Tribute Store is open everyday to all guests. They do have some Halloween dessert items for purchase plus some nice HHN merchandise.

Louie’s Italian restaurant has pizza fries available any day. These are popular during HHN.

 

[soniam]

Can’t remember if I read this here or elsewhere, but someone asked if any of the HHN food booths are opened during the day. They are not. They are only open during HHN.

The HHN Tribute Store is open everyday to all guests. They do have some Halloween dessert items for purchase plus some nice HHN merchandise.

Louie’s Italian restaurant has pizza fries available any day. These are popular during HHN.

So, Louie's has pizza fries even during the day

 

[wdwrule]

Can’t remember if I read this here or elsewhere, but someone asked if any of the HHN food booths are opened during the day. They are not. They are only open during HHN.

The HHN Tribute Store is open everyday to all guests. They do have some Halloween dessert items for purchase plus some nice HHN merchandise.

Louie’s Italian restaurant has pizza fries available any day. These are popular during HHN.

Thanks for this tip about the pizza fries! I have yet to try them and plan on trying them very soon! I just checked in the app and they are available for a mobile order as well.

 

[buckeev]

[vinotinto: my suggestions are in bold below

DIS friends, I need help figuring out a strategy for our HHN day/evening. Please help!

• We have APs and will be at UO by 2pm and can "Stay and Scream."
• We have Express Pass for HHN.
• This is our only night doing HHN (Thursday Oct 7th).
• I want to sit down and have linner, so that we're not melting down for lack of food (important not only for the teens but for this mama, snacks are just not enough for extended hours!).
• I currently have linner reservations at Finnegan's at 2:45pm and Lombard's at 3:30. Lombard's menu is more appealing, but logistics is more important.
• they are not that far apart from each other. Lombards will be a quieter dining experience. Finnegan’s is especially hopping pre HHN.
• We want to do all 10 houses, enjoy the scare zones, have a couple of snacks/themed food, and definitely see the 2 shows.
• the Columbus Day Thursday has been busier than most others in the past when we’ve visited. You have EP, conventional wisdom is to do the first few houses from stay & scream (see above) & save your pass to do repeat viewing.
• 
  
• Of the houses, Hill House and Beetlejuice are the ones we may want to do more than once.

Then, it’s a good idea to start out in CP area. Might get lucky & knock them both out before the gate gets back there.

• I would prefer to save our energy for the evening, and would prefer not to stand in a stand and scream line for more than 20 minutes.

So, would you recommend that we eat linner at Finnegan's or Lombard's?

doesn’t matter where or what time you eat dinner. Both options will have you back on the sidewalk before 5 pm. when it rolls around, the TM’s will start herding people into the pens. They are very efficient at it. Many of the rides will be proactively closed before 5pm to allow for the people in line to be processed in a timely manner so that the park can be cleared of day guests. Sooner that happens, the earlier HHN will fire up.

Assuming we want to head to Central Park for the Scream and Stay, what time should we plan to be there and what kind of wait can we expect? I assume there is no seating and beverages while we wait for the houses in that line? How far behind the pack will we be if we do not make the Beetlejuice/Hill House line?

you will wait in “a” pen until the park is cleared, period

Read back, there have been reports of the pens being released by 5:30 or so, although quite early based upon past experience.

There is little seating or shade in the pens. It’s a mass of humanity lol. Prefer to hang back to not be in the thick of the crowd. YMMV.

There are plenty of opportunities to grab refreshments throughout the night. Expect long lines, especially for the pizza fries & tater Stick things. there have been consistent reports of excessive delays for snacks throughout the night this year.

You may find yourself needing to prioritize houses vs snacks & house vs shows. Might want to discuss that with the fam ahead of time to avoid disappointment.

If we decide to Scream and Stay at Finnegan's at 5pm, would that experience be more pleasant than Central Park? Is there seating? Beverages?

Lol define ‘pleasant’. like death & taxes, HHN holding pens are hot & crowded. Most people seem happy enough & go with the flow. There’s an interesting electricity in the air. All part of the experience. Embrace it.

pray to your higher power it doesn’t rain. .

benches will likely be long spoken for, same as fence railings TBH. Finnegan’s will be at capacity; both from those trying to hold down their table for 3 hours to those in line outside trying to get in.

it’s good to go into the event with a general plan of attack. However, you need to be flexible. will find that crowds for each house ebb & flow from hour to hour. relax and enjoy the ride.

[/QUOTE]
Lady K DEFINITELY knows her HHN!!! Tons of great advice there!

 

[buckeev]

Can’t remember if I read this here or elsewhere, but someone asked if any of the HHN food booths are opened during the day. They are not. They are only open during HHN.

The HHN Tribute Store is open everyday to all guests. They do have some Halloween dessert items for purchase plus some nice HHN merchandise.

Louie’s Italian restaurant has pizza fries available any day. These are popular during HHN.

THANKS Robo! That be me! (Or at least I think I asked…specifically about the “Pizza Fries.”) Number One Son Gage has informed us that he wants to go to HHN-which totally shocked us! After a bit of investigative work, it was determined that he wanted to try the Pizza Fries…and my Bride has said she didn’t wanna go.

 

[keishashadow]

They do have some Halloween dessert items for purchase plus some nice HHN merchandise.

robbie - do u think the line up of sweets at the tribute store compares to prior years?
Lady K DEFINITELY knows her HHN!!! Tons of great advice there!
[/QUOTE]
aw, shucks, thanks

There are so many OGs here who, literally, eat/sleep/breathe HHNto them for sharing their knowledge

 

[macraven]

THANKS Robo! That be me! (Or at least I think I asked…specifically about the “Pizza Fries.”) Number One Son Gage has informed us that he wants to go to HHN-which totally shocked us! After a bit of investigative work, it was determined that he wanted to try the Pizza Fries…and my Bride has said she didn’t wanna go.

can you bribe your bride with some fancy bling to change her mind and go with you …

 

[Robo56]

So, Louie's has pizza fries even during the day

Yes, You can get your pizza fries during the day at Louie’s.

Thanks for this tip about the pizza fries! I have yet to try them and plan on trying them very soon! I just checked in the app and they are available for a mobile order as well.

You’re welcome.

THANKS Robo! That be me! (Or at least I think I asked…specifically about the “Pizza Fries.”) Number One Son Gage has informed us that he wants to go to HHN-which totally shocked us! After a bit of investigative work, it was determined that he wanted to try the Pizza Fries…and my Bride has said she didn’t wanna go.

I hope Gage is able to get his pizza fries from Louie’s.

robbie - do u think the line up of sweets at the tribute store compares to prior years?

They looked pretty impressive.













I was a little intrigued by the chocolate pumpkin that you crack open to reveal the candy treat inside which included shaved chocolate, candy corn and chocolate bats, ghosts and pumpkins.

can you bribe your bride with some fancy bling to change her mind and go with you …

LOL......Sounds like a good plan.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

In stay and scream line now for Beetlejuice. TMs came around and said the houses will open at 5:45