Halloween Horror Nights 2009 Review (So far...)

[BuckeyeGuy28]

Me and a couple friends decided at last minute to check out HHN on it's second day and I just got back. We figured we'd get our feet wet for the Halloween season (and boy were they wet after the downpour). We didn't do everything (even though the crowds were very manageable), but here's my review for everything we got to:

HRRR: not operational!
Silver Screams: the BEST house this year (from what we saw). Very very well done--the theming is fantastic but it also delivers the scares. 10/10
Chucky: the second best house! It's got a sense of humor but has some great jumpscares, it's just missing some fresh ideas--still well done. 8.5/10
Wolf-Man: the best scares are here--very expensive looking but again, all you've got is the wolf jumpin out and not much else. It seems like magic though and it'll get ya good! 8/10
Frankenstein: better than I expected--the theming is well done and the scares come from all directions which is great but this has potential it doesn't use. Still more than I expected. 7/10
The Spawning: Underrated!! This house is so much fun! The costumes are a little cheap looking but aliens come at you from everywhere! Plus, a HUGE disturbing and dizzyingly freaky strobe light section alone makes the wait, whatever it is, worth it. 8/10

Containment: boring, overused theme that doesn't work at all here. 2/10
Apocalypse: good props and effects, but weak costumes. 5/10
Cirque du Freak: disappointing--it's smaller than it could be and the 'freaks' seem to be in short order for some reason. 4/10
Drive-In: this one has the best scareactors, and it's fun to recognize the movie characters--if the movie screen played more classic horror movies and not the constant Wolfman trailer, this would be great. 7/10
WWII Zone: the BEST props! Real life war vehicles and believable ruins and setpieces make this the best scarezone we saw--the zombie soldiers should be scarier and more energized than they are unfortunately. 8/10

that's all we did, but for just under 3 1/2 hours that's pretty good (plus we did silver screams and chucky twice). I will post the other house and scarezone and show reviews when I go later and experience them. Have fun!

 

[Purseval]

I was on HR3 right before 5pm, I asked them why it wasn't running for HHN. They gave some silly answer like "We really wanted to but we just can't" I thought it might be a safety issue with all of the people queued up near the ride but since they were doing test runs all night that theory went down the toilet.

Personally it was probably good that they didn't run it because that ride will be there for years and HHN only goes for a short time. Why spend all of that money for a ticket then waste most of it waiting for a ride? When The Mummy opened it had massive lines but the past 2 nights the wait time was never more than 10 minutes. In time HR3 will be the same way.

 

[inkkognito]

Why spend all of that money for a ticket then waste most of it waiting for a ride?

'Cause every person who does that is one more person who isn't in line in front of me for a house!

 

[KellBell89]

Awesome...im going to HHN for the first time this weekend and im so excited! but im not sure what HR3 is...can anyone please let me know! although i hear its not running?

 

[Mad Hattered]

It's the new coaster at USO...Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit

 

[KellBell89]

Thanks Mad Hattered!!!

 

[Coach81]

Cool report.. thanks!

 

[Metro West]

Awesome...im going to HHN for the first time this weekend and im so excited! but im not sure what HR3 is...can anyone please let me know! although i hear its not running?

This was in the paper regarding the HR3: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/fe...or-nights-hollywood-rip-ride-rockit-dark.html

 

[BuckeyeGuy28]

My sister went last night and did some of the stuff I missed, so here's what she had to say:

SAW--excellent house thats true to the movies and scares you good (she seconded this to what was also my favorite house Silver Screams)

LEAVE IT TO CLEAVER--she didnt like that it smelled bad, and said it wasnt really scary. She said there was a bunch of chainsaws, which always get me so I'm gonna check it out even though she really didnt care for it

LIGHTS CAMERAS HACKTION--scarezone that's in line with the other ones-pretty weak. But like I said, chainsaws get me good and she said there are plenty of chainsaws

i'll hopefully have seen Bill and Ted and Dracula in a couple weeks on my for sure date. Hope this helps out anybody planning on going!

 

[RACEFAN9]

We went last year and it was the greatest thing ever so we have invited some friend to go with us this year.From the reviews it don't sound like it is as good as last year.I'm sure we will still have a blast.We will be there Thursday-Monday.Doing HHN Thursday and Sunday.

 

[Metro West]

Doing HHN Thursday and Sunday.

You should definately stop by the S & S area on Sunday 10/11...quite a few of us will be there.

 

[Funky_dino]

we went on friday and it was no way as busy as last year, although we did go nearer columbus weekend, the longest queue was saw at 40 mins.

chucky i feel was the best house had some good scares and really clever ideas,

saw was dissapointing with not much going on, same i felt with wolfman, which i was really looking forward to,

dracula, and frankenstein i felt had some good scares and the theming was good,

leave it to clever was very diff and it was quite light inside, had some interesting smells as well lol.

silver screams i felt was really clever as well, the shaun of the dead part is brilliant hehe

and the spawning was the surprise of the evening for us, the scares were brilliant i got caught by the same sacreactor 3 times in one place.

the scarezones i felt werent as good as last year, The ww2 one was by far the best the atmosphere was great, so was the hollywood die in, the rest i felt were good but not great.

all in all it was a geat night, not being as busy as the previous year, (120min waits on house) made it so much better