Our RIP Tour guaranteed that we would get front of the line access to all 9 houses, time in each of the scare zones, reserved seating at Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure, and Express Pass for all rides following the conclusion of the tour. It was going to be a super busy night (with a projected time completion of about 4 hours for the tour inclusions), so Zack wasted no time in getting our group of 12 on its way at precisely 7:15 pm.
Due to the nature of the tour, the restrictions on photography and videography in the houses, and my sheer terror at the whole premise of the event.....my camera remained safely stowed in my purse backpack for the duration of the night. That means we have precious few photos of the tour itself, so I’ll make my apologies for that now. I wouldn’t have carried my phone or camera in hand if my life depended on it.....I needed those hands to clutch tightly to Steve as we made our way slowly through each dark, bloody, terrifying house
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Zack stopped our group just prior to arriving at each house, and gave us each a little back story on the history and theme as well as some neat trivia.... which was a really nice touch. He was super knowledgeable about each of the movies on which they were based, and how they factored into the 25 year history of
HHN. It was much more than just “here we are at ______ House, let’s go”. When we approached the entrance to each house, we literally received immediate admission (past the hundreds and hundreds and HUNDREDS of people in both the standby and Express lines).....a TM would close off the regular line entrances, admit our group of 13 (the guide went through with us, generally first but sometimes last) and then re-open to the standby and Express guests. This was particularly good for me because I didn’t have time to stop and fret before each one, I was tossed in immediately!!
I am happy to report that despite my Halloweenie status, I survived 8 of the 9 houses and quite enjoyed them all. The only one I didn’t do was the Asylum in Wonderland house, due to the lighting effects employed in the house. My brain tumour of years passed has left me with a sensitivity to strobe lights in particular, and this house was billed as being extremely trippy....and considering this was our very first house of the night, I didn’t want to start off with either a migraine or seizure. Zack, our guide, hung out with me at the exit of the house while we waited for the balance of our group, and we had a great little chat while the others went through. Steve (who had wanted to wait with me outside, but whom I flatly refused to allow to do so....I was not raining on his Horror Parade!) emerged a short while later, and told me I had made a very, VERY good decision to skip it.....the lights would have killed me. So, it was a smart call after all.
I will admit....those first couple of houses were tough for this big chicken. Like
terrifyingly scary 
. I had no idea what to expect....I had never been through a haunted house in my life.....and OMG, they were realistic. Definitely not for the faint of heart, and just as detailed and frightening as they were billed. As we moved on, though, I really did get into it, and as much as I was having the CRAP scared out of me
(spoiler alert, the scares sometimes don’t end as you exit the houses.....more than once, a chainsaw-wielding creapazoid got me right as I was heaving a huge “I survived!” sigh of relief in the walkway leading away from the house, much to the delight of our little tour group), it started to get rather fun.
Our two favourite houses: easily Insidious and the Purge. We have both seen both movies, so that’s probably why. The Body Collectors house was our #3. The only one we were a bit disappointed in was the American Werewolf in London.....it was just “meh”. It seemed to be missing something that the other houses had, though I’m really not sure what.
We made regular breaks in various non-public VIP areas for bathroom stops and “refreshments”. One such stop was at Men in Black....the exclusive “Immigration Tour” that had us chilling with the aliens alongside our own private bar:
We were also exceedingly thankful for the mid-tour stop at the Bill and Ted show. Our legs were starting to feel crazily rubbery, and sitting down was marvellous. Our seats were dead-centre to the stage, just a few rows from the floor, and absolutely perfect. There was no photography allowed during the show, so all I could capture here was a pre-show picture of the stage:
The show? Well, it was awesomely put together, very high-energy, and super entertaining.....but a tad risqué (definitely PG13) and not really my style. I didn’t get some of the pop culture references, so that definitely affected my overall enjoyment. That said, don’t take my comments as negative, as it was indeed a very entertaining production. The seating area was packed full and we were extremely grateful for the front-and-centre view. It was also a nice touch that the actors all hung out at the exit so you could get photos or chat with them on your way out.....I love that Universal does that
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It was just before 11:30 pm when we concluded our final house, The American Werewolf in London. Once the tour was officially considered ‘over’, we tipped our guide and were released into the park with our RIP credentials allowing us front-of-the-line access to all participating rides and attractions. By this time, however, we’d been in the park for more than 12 hours......and our legs were literally numb. Not achy, not sore.....almost the “we can hardly feel them anymore” point. While we would have LOVED to hang out in Diagon Alley or tour the park for another couple of hours, we knew we just didn’t have it in us. We were almost toast.
We did, however, have just enough left in us for a few more highlights before calling it a day. Steve hopped two consecutive rides on the Mummy with absolutely no wait at all
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We also toured the Psychoscareapy scare zone, which was crazy scary in the dark!!!! Especially when all those scareactors now seemed to pop up out of seemingly nowhere with hatchets and chainsaws in hand
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This gazebo burned eerily throughout the night.....
.....and the bloody pumpkin carver was hard at work.
The apple bobbing station was drowning victim after victim.....
....and we had a ball exploring the entire area. My nerves had even steeled enough that I could carry my camera in hand with relative confidence.....with the strap wrapped safely around my wrists just in case, of course
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To end off our night, we looped through the Icons of HHN scare zone, in the hopes of catching another killing. We were absolutely delighted (why does that sound so wrong? Lol) to catch the Usher massacring his latest naughty theatre guest.
What was super cool.....the Usher (who was the same Usher as we had chatted extensively with at the Scareactor Dining event earlier in the night), even in the darkened crowd, spotted us and acknowledged us with the “I’m watching you” eyes/finger pointing. What a neat way to finish off a most unique and amazing experience. Except the part where he licked the victim's blood off the window of the theatre......that was a bit gross
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We dragged our way to the parking garage, chatted with Jake via speakerphone on the way back to the resort, and made a brief whirl through the Wendy’s drive thru (yes, again!!) before limping our way up the three flights of stairs to the villa. Why do those all seem so arduous after a 13 hours at the theme parks??
This Halloweenie had survived the carnage. Steve was beyond thrilled that I had not only endured, but enjoyed the event.
Oh, what a night. We’d need tomorrow to recouperate.
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. I am still enjoying one last day of being 28 again (or 29 still?). Let's not rush the getting older thing, right? 
I too am a bit older than you so there's a little pixie dust right there! 
I love the Minion cake!
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