HHN 2014 reviews and trip reports

[Metro West]

Post your experiences here...good and bad.

 

[Metro West]

I went tonight for a while...left around 8pm after being thoroughly soaked by the steady rain throughout the evening. Only did three houses tonight with Carol and the gang before having had enough of the rain and walking around soaking wet.

There are new scanners in place at the front gate and when they check your ticket inside the holding areas. You will scan the ticket & scan your finger to make sure you are the person using the ticket...after the first use of course. If you are like me and have light prints, the fingerprint will not scan. I didn't have any trouble at the main gate but the mobile scanners would not scan my print. I had to show ID which wasn't a big deal. I guess they've had people who have shared tickets in the past but that's not going to happen now.

This year the main holding area at Finnegan's has a choice of houses. The two are AVP and Dracula Untold. We chose Dracula Untold first. None of us really liked this house. It was sorely lacking in scares but the house itself was very well done. AVP was great! The creatures look just the films and there are plenty of scares for everyone. The only house I really wanted to do before I left was Halloween. We waited an hour in the constant rain and it was well worth it. This house is my favorite so far and is very true to the movie. I was a little disappointed it wasn't a soundstage house because the facade of the house backs up to one of the Sprung tents. Ruins the look of the house...IMHO but this house should not be missed. It's going to be very popular so be ready for long lines all night...even for Express.

I'm going back tomorrow night as long as the weather cooperates and will do the rest of the houses. I'll write more at that time.

 

[Senator Tressel]

Did seven of the houses last night with express. AVP was the best for me. Absolutely fantastic sets. Halloween was great as well. The rain wasn't too bad for me other than the puddles. It was at a level where you were getting wet, but it never rained so hard that you wouldn't be comfortable standing out in it.

Left at around 10PM after standing in the express line for Walking Dead for 45 minutes. Was PISSED. The regular line was 60 minutes and they were doing a 1-1 ratio. Both lines were moving at the same speed (and it actually seemed like the ratio was a bit more on the regular line side). This was clearly the way the person at the front was told to do it, so the attraction manager has no idea what they're doing because that's not the way it's supposed to be. Left right after because I was mad.

Will be back tonight maybe 8ish to do a few more.

 

[DanniDeer]

Left at around 10PM after standing in the express line for Walking Dead for 45 minutes. Was PISSED. The regular line was 60 minutes and they were doing a 1-1 ratio. Both lines were moving at the same speed (and it actually seemed like the ratio was a bit more on the regular line side).

Yeah we were in the same line around the same time. It was kind of ridiculous. It was long enough for us to think something happened inside the house that stopped the line from moving.

 

[DanniDeer]

We got through all the houses last night except for Alien vs Predator, and I have to say this year is absolutely top notch. The seven houses we did were all great in their own ways, and I already know AvP isn't going to be a let down.

The attention to detail is incredible. From the biggest facades, to the make up of street scareactors. Really good stuff.

I don't really feel like I can do an accurate review or rating because we only went through seven of the houses once, except Dollhouse -- we did that one twice, but I do have a few comments, and I'm not going to post any spoilers...

1- The entry process for passholder preview was a disaster, I thought. It was a "wait in this line, to wait in this other line, to wait in this kind of discombobulated line, to wait in this HUGE JUMBLED MASS OF PEOPLE, to wait in line for these two houses" kind of thing. I don't remember doing that the last two years. It ended up being fine, but could have been waaaay worse.

2- They did such an amazing job with the scare zones, I wanted MORE. The zones are fantastic, the sets are unique, once the rain stopped, the scareactors are 100% into - make sure you catch cast changes in Face-Off! But they're all SO close together, right at the front of the park. It loses ambiance from the end of New York around to the beginning of Simpsons. But I still think the zones that they have are great. I've never seen The Purge, but I'm pretty sure it was produced to be a scare zone at HHN. It fits so perfectly.

3- The houses we saw were absolute beauties. The scares inside Halloween were timed for the two people in front of our group, every. single. time. But it looked like I walked on to the movie set, so I still had a ball gawking at everything. That's more or less how I felt in all the houses when the scares just didn't fall on me. The sets are all gorgeous, so you can't even be disappointed.

We definitely caught Roanoke in a cast change, so I really can't wait to see it in full glory. It has A LOT of potential.

Dollhouse of the Damned was my winner of the night, and I have a feeling it's going to be my favorite house of the year. Even without our second time through, it was tops for me. The whole atmosphere gave me the creeps or made me feel uncomfortable, from start to finish. Mission accomplished.

And there's a certain aroma in the house that just really sealed the deal. That's another thing - the smells this year in so many houses really add a level of depth that I've either never experienced or noticed in previous years. Awesome job.

The house I was least anticipating was Giggles and Gore. That was the last house we did, just as all of us were hitting our soggy, tired, cold, peopled-out wall. And I had an absolute blast in that house. It was flat out FUN. The scares were still there, but it was like being in a carnival funhouse from Hell. Great effects. There are tons of buttons to press, and I am absolutely the person that will press them all.

Sorry for the novel, I'm just so excited for a great HHN season. Can't wait to hear others' thoughts and get back sometime this week after the weather stops being terrible...

 

[schumigirl]

Well as Metro already stated the weather played a huge part last night. But going back tonight and two nights next week.

We got released and they had two houses open, Dracula and AvP"....we chose Dracula and we were glad we didn't have to queue long for that one. It was ok but not a lot of scares and no real cohesive story, none of us can remember seeing Dracula?

AvP was surprisingly good. I wasn't looking forward to this one but the scares were good and the animatronics were excellent.......near the end of the house you do have to bend quite low and walk for about 15-20 seconds doubled over quite low...I'm sure there must be another exit for those who are unable to do this.

Then it was straight to Halloween we walked through the regular queue which took about 45 minutes and it was worth it. Best house I ever saw.

Lots of scares and a very cohesive house that followed the first film very accurately. I was at the front of our little group (surprise) but at one point I ran behind Metro and screamed for my life.......so scary! After we exited I actually lost the ability to speak for a few seconds.

Rain was so heavy now so Metro headed home and we went back through Express queue for Halloween........wow......it wa even better than the first time. At the scene when he attacks the girl in the living room I kinda froze watching him........he slowly turned and stopped and looked straight at me and just stared at me for what felt like an hour......I couldn't move and he didn't either lol......Kyle said it was eerie......then I screamed and ran and he follow and appeared at every turn to the end and got me every time.......yes I absolutely made myself a target by looking so scared

We were drenched and cold by this time so we left knowing we have another 3 nights to see it all with Express.

Halloween was an amazing house and I can't wait to get back tonight to do it again. Doing everything Express tonight as we are not going in the holding area,going to use hotel guest entry around 7 or 8.

So far we are huge fans of this year's event.

 

[DanniDeer]

At the scene when he attacks the girl in the living room I kinda froze watching him........he slowly turned and stopped and looked straight at me and just stared at me for what felt like an hour......I couldn't move and he didn't either lol......Kyle said it was eerie......

I'm glad you guys seemed to have good timing with the scares in that house. They just seemed to always miss me. I saw that scene resetting when I walked in and heard it get the group behind us. Can't wait to try again!

 

[imajinable]

Halloween was an amazing house and I can't wait to get back tonight to do it again. Doing everything Express tonight as we are not going in the holding area,going to use hotel guest entry around 7 or 8.

Where is the hotel guest entry located?

 

[PammyK]

Well, the weather was a disappointment but otherwise it was a great, although busy night. While it would be a nice to have, I can't justify tripling the cost of my pass to add express since I can do RoF and/or FF+ and just come back if I miss something one night so my house attendance uses the standby queues, or, depending on which friends I'm with, the assistance pass.

Between Wednesday night and last night, I've experienced everything but Dracula Untold and Rocky. I think I'm going to do the S&S today at Finn's so I can hit Dracula first thing.

Favorite House so far - Halloween

• It was a wonderful recreation of the movie and was the house I screamed the most in.

Least Favorite House so far - From Dusk 'til Dawn

• I'll preface this by saying that I haven't watched the films or series so I'm unfamiliar with the characters and plot line. Also, I admit that I am not a fan of sleazy trash. So despite having some great architectural detail, based on the trashiness of the theme and the non-existent scares, I just hated this house. Overt sexuality can be done with class and taste and still have a great gore factor (think Castle Vampyre) and this just didn't hit the mark for me. Fans of the films/series will probably have a much different opinion.

Favorite Scare Zone - MASKerade

• The rain last night put a damper on the scare zones, especially MASKerade which really benefits when the stiltwalkers are present. But when the weather cooperates, there is a lushly evocative creep factor in this scare zone. It isn't scary per se, but there is a strangely beautiful air of creepiness that I really liked. Costumes are gorgeous and the scareactors are really learning how to work it. Honorable mention goes to FaceOff which was somewhat reminiscent of Seven from a few years back. They, especially the ones closer to Mel's, were really working it and creating great interactions. I'm looking forward to spending more time here when I need a break off my feet.

Bill & Ted

• Oh Bill & Ted. I enjoyed the show but I guess I'm really not the target audience because, aside from the Disney digs, it seemed as if they selected the most obscure pop culture references they could find. Still, I enjoyed it and will be back.

There was a vast difference between the preview night and opening night with all the finishing touches really helping to set the stage. There are still opening week challenges and I'm confident that most of these will be worked through before next weekend. Wait times are not really accurate and as others have mentioned some houses (TWD) are still trying to make their queuing and merging processes work efficiently.

The queues for the soundstage houses were rather interesting and quite meandering, with the exit queue for AVP circling around the outside of the entrance queue for Dracula. At the end of a long night, it just feels like torture.

There was a bit of a technical glitch at GnG last night, resulting in a very delayed opening. We were fortunate in that we decided to check the status on our way to get dinner at Louie's and ended up catching it just after it opened resulting in almost no wait to go through the house.

I'm looking forward to checking out Dracula tonight as it is the only house I haven't visited yet. I'm also looking forward to seeing how my opinions change as the season progresses and everyone grows into their roles.

 

[Senator Tressel]

Where is the hotel guest entry located?

On the far right to go through the metal detectors and then again on the far right when you scan your tickets. Great perk as there is zero wait in either line.

 

[macraven]

it's the far right at the entrance.
should be marked.

 

[Marquibiri]

I'll eventually post here my review... I am not reading any of the reviews yet! Don't like spoilers!

11 days until I fly back to Orlando!

Cheers!

Marquibiri

 

[schumigirl]

I love this years HHN

We used the hotel guest entrance around 7-730 last night and there was already a fantastic atmosphere in the park.....so different from the previous night. The weather was fantastic.......it was dry which was a good start and really hot......perfect night for scares.

We walked through Bayou of Blood which I think is my favorite street experience......got plenty of pics with those guys. So well done as always.

Headed around to Dollhouse of the Damned, 15 minute regular wait and a walk on with EP....not what I was expecting. It was a good house and a good few scares, but weird, just a bit weird.

Then we did Roanoke-Cannibal Colony another 15 minute regular wait and we walked in with EP..........my son hadn't realised this was a cannibal theme.......then wondered why TM on the way in we're asking us what we thought was for dinner it was a good house, again, few good scares and the scare actors were good actually.

Then we did my favorite house EVER.......Halloween..........the regular queue was 70 minutes and the queue looked longer if I'm honest......we got on in less that 5 minutes at this point........wow again! I got just as freaked again in this house and you could tell it was a different crew........and I got an extra surprise at the very end.......won't print spoilers though. This house just gets better and better every time we do it.........lots and lots of scares!!

We walked back through Bayou which was fun in the total dark, and went into From Dusk till Dawn........now, I know how much work goes into these houses and how the scare actors do their best,.........but this house sucked! No scares.....and just didn't seem to fit with horror nights......I had never heard of dusk till dawn so maybe that was why but I wouldn't do this house again if I was paid to. My husband however liked it a little

Then came the street experience of masquerade:Unstitched.......this was excellent and even though I saw one of the actors on stilts beside me she managed to make me jump out of my skin........it was well done too.

We then queued around 20 minutes with Express for The Walking Dead......regular queue was 75 minutes...........I don't like TWD and have no interest in it........but the house is really good. Lots of scares and the end bit was very weird........it is the longest of the houses I think and obviously very popular. My husband however was a bit disappointed in it in a way. Certainly wouldn't queue longer than 20 minutes.

We did AvP again.......this is a cool house....again, I have no interest in these movies but DH and DS love them........but I really enjoyed it and so did they. Plenty of scares and the animation is exceptional.

Dracula..........not a fan of this at all. Very short and no scares......not one.......maybe I was unlucky as I did hear someone scream........won't bother with this one again.

The Purge..........this is fun..........I liked it because you didn't really notice some of the scare actors till they were upon you........I did think one guest was an actor though ......oops! She was scary. Again it's so well done.

By this time our feet....legs.....hips.....and back were killing us.......but we didn't give up.......we had some water and a sit down then hoofed it around to do Rocky horror.......I had misread the time so it had started.......next time.......so we did Giggles and Gore..............what a fun house.......literally.

The queue was 75 minutes but we got in in just under 10 minutes.......this was short but good scares and yep.......you have to press buttons when it tells you not to

Walked back around The Purge and looked to see if RRR was on......it hadn't been on all night, but was still off. Bill and ted will be another night too. We then hobbled back to the boat for the hotel, sore but it was worth it.

It was busy but not mobbed........although why people walk around on their phones not looking where they are going is beyond me.........

Quite a few young kids and yep, little ones in strollers ........saw a lot of tears from a few kids.........it's really not a place for kids so young.

But......looking forward to Thursday and Friday........will pick and choose the houses we want to do again and EP all the way.........queuing is not fun!

 

[babesboo99]

We leave in 3 weeks my husband and I eldest daughter and fiance and my 7 year old twins who are in love with horror. They try to make their own masks with all the material ( very expensive ) they wanted to go and see everything they can't wait for AVP and Halloween . I am looking forward to the walking dead . We discussed this and we will be in the p[ark before it closes will they look at our FF passes so we can go in the holding area?

 

[amityisland]

We went last night with AP early admission and Express Passes:

-Got in around 5pm. Once in, It was not the usual hang out in Woody/ET zone and get some snacks...we were in a loooong line, then a huge mass of people waiting for the Woody/ET zone to open...which it did not until 5:30. I was very glad I didn't bother trying to get in any earlier with the AP early admission.

The house we did in order (we both had express) and some general impressions -not going to spoil things:
1. Roanoke - At first I thought it was kind of meh, but the more I thought about it the more I liked its themeing and atmosphere.

2.Dollhouse - very cool, very original, creepy - can't wait to do it again

3. Halloween - everything a Halloween fan could want. Would've gone through the house a couple more times if I had the time. Can't wait to do this one again as well. My sister got the best scare of the night and it was hilarious to watch!

4. Giggles and Gore- I know a lot of people are loving this house, but I just don't get it. We went through when it was still light out...is it scarier after sundown? Will give this one another chance, but was bored last night.

5. Dracula - uggh. boring. not scary, not impressed...just nothing

6. AvP - liked it ok, but maybe I was unfairly comparing it to Werewolf from last year - not as scary to me as Werewolf. Maybe they're still working on puppet timing.

7. Walking Dead - I haven't watched the tv show since season one, but out of the three walking dead houses we've had, I kinda liked this one the most. One of the rooms actually made me feel very uneasy, which is more than the other WD houses did. I also liked that it was longer.

8. Dusk 'till Dawn: Saw the movie a long time ago, never saw the series. I enjoyed this house. It was better than I thought it would be.

We did Maskerade and Purge scare zones: both were fun.

Overall, not as good as last year..nothing topped Werewolf or Cabin in the Woods (although Halloween and Dollhouse were very good). I still have two more chances to go and last year my 2nd time was my favorite, so maybe it will improve and the timing of the scares will be more in my favor.

 

[PammyK]

Went again last night and the weather was sooooo much better than opening night - we even had a cool breeze so it wasn't unbearably hot. Mind you, I was still a big ugly ball of sweat, but it could have been much worse.

Right now I think my order of houses from favorite to least favorite would be as follows:

• Halloween - one of the few horror movies I've seen, albeit years and years ago. But the theming was spot on and all of Michael's incarnations did a great job, resulting in lots of good screams from me. Just excellent!
• Next is probably TWD. While I'm pretty sick of the whole TWD thing at HHN, the exceptional attention to detail in the construction of the maze and facade make up for the areas in the house that, for me, were a bit lacking. Plus there were 2 superlative sections in the house where I could really imagine myself trapped in the midst of a walker herd and that was just cool.
• Dollhouse - creepy and ohh, that smell. I've only done it once, but look forward to seeing it several more times.
• Giggles & Gore - Not a perfect house, but loved the looks they created with makeup and costuming. This is definitely the "fun house" house for HHN24 and it showed in the interactiveness of the scareactors. I especially enjoyed the Ringmaster clown in Cast A and all those in the last room. I don't really look to get scared in this house, but rather to enjoy the atmosphere and the ability to have a little interaction with the scareactors, even if it is just via eye contact and gestures.
• Dracula - I know a lot of people aren't loving this house, but I tend to like the houses that have some sort of historic element, even if it is historic mythology. Maybe this is due to my study of archaeology back in my university days. This house does require good timing though, and I can see where it would seem lackluster if you don't hit the timing right. As it was, we did this house right out of the S&S holding area and some areas seemed sparsely populated by scareactors so if that is the actual staffing of the house and not just folks not getting to their marks on time, I can see where this house could be disappointing.
• Roanoke - Again, I think the historical aspects win me over in this house. But it feels like there are still some technical glitches and the audio really didn't seem to match the scareactors very well which was problematic. But I still see potential in this house and have high hopes that with time, it will find its groove.
• AVP - I didn't hate this house but I have no point of reference, having never seen any of the related films. I agree that the puppets are pretty cool but there really wasn't much of a scare factor in here. From a puppetry perspective, AWiL set the bar and so far AVP hasn't reached that level, though there is time for things to fall into place. If you're more familar with the source material, I think you'll enjoy this house much more than I did, based on the responses my friends had.
• From Dusk 'til Dawn - Ugh. Sleazy trash with some gorgeous set design. Just not my cup of tea and with no scare factor to speak of, it completely missed the mark. I can handle a non-scary house if it has great style/mood, but this had neither. Best part was the barker at the entrance to the strip club.

All the Scare Zones have their good points but my favorites are MASKerade followed by FaceOff. HHN actually reposted one of my photographs from MASKerade on their Instagram feed which, I can't deny, was pretty cool. There isn't anything wrong with The Purge and they've got some good people there, but for me it falls a little short and seems almost like a recycled Atlanta with Purgers instead of Walkers, using some of the same sound effects and the box truck. Bayou has gotten better every night, but still needs to find its groove. We missed seeing the sacrifice, but did interact with the Voodoo Queen afterwards and I enjoyed her character performance and interaction. She is really what makes the area come alive.

Looking forward to next weekend to see how things grow.

 

[glocon]

Can someone tell us what the sacrifice is in the Bayou? And the Voodoo queen?

Thanks!

 

[PammyK]

Can someone tell us what the sacrifice is in the Bayou? And the Voodoo queen?

Thanks!

"The Sacrifice" is simply a staged scene within the Bayou scare zone that takes place in the shack that was built where the barn was last year. I believe it is scheduled hourly on the half-hour.

The Voodoo Queen what I'd call the featured character in the scare zone. When we encountered her last night, she was licking something from the side of her hand. Assuming it was blood (this was just a few minutes after the sacrifice), I asked if it was chicken or goat and her response was "Human" if that is any indication. It was the beginning of quite an interesting conversation. I'm hoping to watch the sacrifice at some point on Friday.

 

[Lizboo]

I can't wait to get there...I missed last year and was so mad about it

1. Where is that crazy tunnel? The one that makes you feel like you are gonna hurl (it was in the Chucky house years ago...)

2. In the video from Dusk til Dawn, they talked about snakes in the house...real snakes??

3. How trashy is DtD...seems to be offensive..

4. How long is the Walking Dead? Like double the lines?

5. AvP and Dracula are the front part of SnS- which houses are near the Woody funzone that are part of SnS?


I will confess I hate dolls and clowns so you know what I will be dreading

TIA
Elizabeth

 

[macraven]

thought i read it was AVP for the tunnel you crawl thru