HHN at last! A TR that was briefly live, then not live, and is now finished.

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SCarey is right next to the Nightmare Fuel show, so we headed over there next. We had reserved seating, front and center. If you ever do a RIP tour (which I HIGHLY recommend) - don't plan any other days of HHN afterwards. You'd never be able to go from that awesome show seating and walking right into all the houses, back to being "regular" guests.

Wow, Nightmare Fuel was awesome. Matt went up front and amped the audience up, which was also pretty rad. Made round 1 on the other houses, and hopped on Transformers. For the rides, you get to go through the child swap entrance - so also no waiting / no lines. We only did Transformers for rides, but others would be quick to add based on the no line / no waiting / short walk formula on the tour.





Did a little stop at Lombards, which is only open to tour groups. This means quiet restrooms with no lines. As it happens, this was the only time on our entire trip when one of the restrooms did not have TP. Side note - I was pleasantly surprised with Universal's cleanliness overall. We constantly saw team members cleaning restrooms, emptying trashes, and sweeping walkways.



After a few more houses, we ended up back at Cafe La Bamba for a few minutes before the Marathon of Mayhem water show. We had a 2nd round of desserts & restocked our soda supply for the 2nd half of the night.



We had a nice grassy area set aside for VIP tours, so we could spread out and watch. Show was fine, but not really anything special. The water fountains were the best part, especially right as the show ended.



Matt confirmed - that is indeed the Crocodile Mardi Gras float in the line to Hill House.



Made another round of the last houses. We got to every house 2x except for Tooth Fairy & Case Files before running out of time at 2am. We actually did 3x through Icons. Was a very fun night, and lovely to feel like royalty zipping past the lines.





We headed back to the Sapphire Falls as 2 very happy, very tired gals.

 

[RWF]

We are looking to book a private RIP tour next year. This would be our first HHN! We will have only one night, and would love to have a private tour, but there are only five of us, so that would be really pricey! I know you found others to join your tour, and I wonder how that went. Did they just go along with your plans, or did all of you plan the itinerary together?

 

[macraven]

The person that books the private tour is the one the guide will take instructions from as they own the tour

TG will follow what the owner of the tour wants to do

Usually the person that booked the tour will ask for feedback from their group before the tour begins if they have requests

The TG works for that owner of the private tour, not the group

 

[CAPSLOCK]

What mac said. But we communicated ahead of time that we all had more or less the same plans (see houses multiple times, see shows, breaks as desired).

Hardest part was finding people, but I filled it up last minute. Going on Facebook earlier would have been easier I imagine.

 

[RWF]

Thanks for the replies! That is what I figured, but I just wouldn't want anyone to feel like they paid for the tour and did not get full value since they weren't in control of the itinerary. If looking for people to join, I guess I would just be clear about our plans. May not matter anyway since I can't convince my family that the private tour is worth it. Probably do a public tour. But who knows! I have until this summer to change their minds!

 

[macraven]

You would be better off doing the public tour.

You do what the guide has planned and see each house once and do a walk thru the scare zones

private tours are set up by who owns the tour.
Peeps would need to talk to the owner of the tour in advance to discuss particulars

Most private tours do all the houses at least once
Some I am aware of do more drinking and eating than houses

So it is always a good thing to discuss with the owner of the tour how they plan the evening before they pay the asking price to be in the private tour.

 

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For whatever reason I couldn't find this picture earlier, but this is the view from the reserved seating at Nightmare Fuel (and that's Matt up there pepping up the crowd!).

 

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Out of park at 2am, back to hotel, and in bed by 2:30am. The agenda for Sun (actual Halloween): sleep in, a little parks time, then Sea World Howl-o-Scream.

Of course, that means I woke up before 6am yet again. Ah, the joys of a relaxing vacation with no morning plans so I can sleep in every day...

Had a slow morning - mind awake but feet still very tired. Wonderful time for breakfast in bed: half of that Big Pink with one of my remaining Club level Cokes - that might be the official breakfast of Universal.

We boated over to Islands about 10am.






Brought a can of soda with me most mornings. Incidentally, the free lockers are just exactly the right height for a soda can - few millimeters to spare. I tended to carry it closed for a ride or two then open & chug it midmorning. Good plan.

Velocicoaster was down most of the morning, but when we cut through that direction to pass Hogsmeade it had just opened. I jumped in line with a short 10min wait - of course the line ballooned after that.






We had lunch at Breadbox in City Walk. They have tasty sandwiches, and Alysia also discovered they pour a good size beer.

Moseyed into US after lunch and met Doc Brown next to his time machine train - never seen him before! It was a very good portrayal.




We also found Homer today. The character in this RV rotates - we've met Marge & Bart in here previously. Homer saw a keg of beer being rolled past but despite a good effort he was not able to reach it.


Mid-afternoon sometime we retired to Sapphire Falls for a break before our last late night. Howl-o-Scream goes 7pm to midnight.

We left the room at 6ish and Ubered to CiCis for cheap pizza, and more importantly that Bavarian dessert pizza.

Another Uber later and we arrived in the slow flow of traffic wending into Sea World. The entrance to Howl-o-Scream was on the other side of the park, at the event entrance near Wild Arctic. Uber was able to drop us off right there.

 

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Howl-o-Scream had the right vibe, lots of fun foggy areas with scare actors ready to pounce. Or creep. I enjoyed their scare zones throughout the park more than Universal's, as the actors were creepier and more in your space. I thought the Campsite one was particularly well themed.



We bypassed the first & 2nd house due to longer lines, and started with Dead Vines. When we got to the front of this line, I heard a team member telling the woman pulsing groups into the house to send them in more quickly as the line was backed up to the queue entrance, so we had good timing with that. Thought they did a good job in the houses. While the props and sets are clearly not up do Universal's level, there were lots of props and a lot more stuff right in your midst to push past and around. Not high tech or movie quality, but a good fun time. Same as their scare zones, it was a lot more right in your face so more startling opportunities. And the benefit of small groups rather than an ongoing line, of course.

We went to see the Monster Stomp show next - walked up right as they opened the theater and got seats right behind the reserved seating. Really liked this show. They had 4 percussionists using knives as sticks - very impressive! They and the glow-in-the-dark skeleton dancers were very talented & also difficult to photograph. Photos did not come out well, but here's the best effort.








Otherwise, there was murder and mayhem on the stage w/ Jack the Ripper. Thought it was right at the level of Nightmare Fuel, but better suited to the smaller theater.


I'd heard the themed bars were worthwhile, so we headed over the the Longshoremen Tavern after the show. It was packed (everyone probably had the same idea) so we bailed. I hopped on Mako while Alysia enjoyed the Sea of Souls pirate scare zone. Hopped into an empty front row seat. Mako at night in the front row = awesome!


Since Longshoremen Tavern was a bust, we wandered past Infinity Falls to the Poison Grotto. That place was cool! In addition to the acrobat performing over the entryway, the hostess scare actor was offering snarky comments to incoming guests.


Noticed that Infinity Falls was closed when we headed back past - not surprising. On the way in to Poison Grotto, it had no line and it was a pretty chilly night. No way we were chancing being soaked, even though we like raft rides & Alysia hasn't been on Infinity Falls yet. For those who haven't been on it yet - it's great! A few unique elements that I haven't seen in another raft ride. Rode it 3 or 4 times in a row this summer & it was really hit or miss on how wet you got - soaked or lightly/partially wetted.

We did the Pirate house next - Captain's Revenge. Same as before - lots of props & theming, none custom made like Universal.


Went back through the Deadly Ambush campsite scare zone towards the front of the park. I really wanted to see the Beneath the Ice house as it was in the Wild Arctic building. The line for it was outside - right next to where they do the other show, Sirens' Song. So we were able to watch that show while waiting. We wouldn't have hung around to see it otherwise - it was more "streetmosphere" to me. But nice to have something to entertain us while we were waiting.

Beneath the Ice was a cool interesting theme as well as literally cool, being in the Wild Arctic building. We shopped at the gift shop at the exit - as it was the last night, their Halloween & Howl-o-Scream merchandise was all half price. We each ended up with a T-shirt & Alysia found a spooky water bottle.

Had enough time to do the Water's Edge Inn house at the end of the night - I probably liked this one the best as it was really set up like a hotel with all the different rooms. I believe the bonus room reserved for those who purchased front of the line passes was in this house - there was a hallway with a room off to the side. They were directing all guests through that room - not sure if it's because it was the last night, or because it was the very end of the night.

Howl-o-Scream had plenty of scare actors in both the scare zones and the houses. We'd go again. For $34, there was lots to do, a very good value for the money.

Here's the cool knives again!

 

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Ok, 2 days left of vacation! Again, woke up before the sunrise despite not leaving Howl-o-Scream until midnight. Well, if I'm up anyways, might as well make my way over to the parks. Alysia did not magically rise at the crack of dawn every day (yes, I'm jealous), so headed over to Islands about 8:20am while she was still waking up.


Early entry was Islands today at 8am, with official park open at 9am. I made it to Islands and was walking through Suess Landing at 8:45am. However, they were taking down the barriers, clearly having let everyone into Hogsmeade. Drat. I had hoped to get to Hagrids before the "general public" had access. Hagrids posted wait was 50min. I got into single rider instead. It is a shorter but much less interesting line. It took about 40min - it didn't seem that long so I'm not sure if there was an issue or lots of even groups or it was just a slow morning. I asked the gentleman I rode with and he said the regular line had been about 50min.






Met Alysia after that, and we rode Forbidden Journey single rider. We're big on single rider lines. Best use is Forbidden Journey, MiB, and Hulk. They also work great on Gringotts, Spiderman, Transformers, and Mummy. They work less well on Rip Ride Rocket, Hagrids, & Velocicoaster, just because the 2 seater style has fewer single seats to fill. Forbidden Journey gets extra props because you can't really see / interact with those on either side of you anyways, so it isn't particularly relevant who you ride with.



We had never noticed the Hogwarts crest over the castle entrance before.



Also, I'm not sure I'm a fan of the new locker location. Or more accurately the execution. The lockers are over towards the bridge now instead of in the castle, which is really fine. But then no one knows where they are, so the team members at the entrance have to direct people, which is really fine. But then they also kept changing the lines at the entrance - sometimes it was Express pass on the right, sometimes it was everyone on the right, etc. And no signage, so the TMs had to tell each and every person, plus redirecting those still holding bags. A bit of signage would go a long way here.

Basically, everything had short lines today. Hopped on Velocicoaster on the way past to take advantage of the low wait. We did Kong, then rode Hagrids again.



Jumped on the Suess Trolley as we headed back to lunch at Toothsome.

 

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Mmmm Toothsome. I am in love with their berries & cream waffle. It has lemon curd and whipped cream and is more or less a lemon pie on a waffle. I fantasize about it at home. I don't want the berries, so I ask for it without - I think this confuses the servers. The first time, it came out glorious and delicious. The next 2 times, they just gave me a waffle with lemon curd & no whipped cream, and I have to then ask for the whipped cream - which they do, but that's more work for everyone and it then comes on the side & not all pretty on top. I think I have to ask for "berries on the side" next time.



Anyways, Alysia had a burger of some sort, then we split a birthday cake sundae. We split a shake last time, and while it was tasty, all the goodness along the edges was very hard to eat without sucking on the glass (which I will admit that I did). The sundae was in fact better, larger, and cheaper (thanks Disboards for that knowledge!). It also had 2 slices of cake with it and a lovely strawberry puree topping.



I believe we did a pretty good job on this.



My only problem with Toothsome is that everything is delicious and I want so many of their things, but I don't have room. Their chocolate almond bread and their brussels sprouts are also fantastic. But I didn't get them instead of the sundae, and in addition to it is just a crazy amount of food.


Our main goal for today was actually the water rides, and so it was the only day we brought actual bags (with changes of clothes). Although it was supposed to be 80 today, it didn't feel quite that warm, so we had held off on wetness in the morning and were waiting for late afternoon.

After Toothsome we headed into Studios to hit the highlights. We were able to ride pretty much everything, I think about 15-20min for Simpsons was our longest line.



Wandered back to Islands for some rafting and wetness!

On the way past, I did Hulk & Fearfall due to the exactly 0min wait for either. I literally walked on both (Hulk via sinle rider). I usually skip Fearfall and had never been through the regular line to see these guys:


Not that I dislike Fearfall, but it's a pretty standard ride and not something I'm willing to spend a lot of time waiting for. Really, the same with Hulk & Rip Ride Rocket - but I'll hop on them while walking past if the line is short (which is pretty much all the time for Hulk due to the single rider line). For the short wait, I don't feel so bad that Alysia is waiting in the arcade or gift shops around. Of course, she does have the option to join me too . Also helps that Hulk is my favorite of the three.



Rode Spiderman on the way past - walked right onto the Scoop.

Dudley Doright log flume is on Alysia's no-go list due to the drop - but she'll do Jurassic Park river adventure... go figure. I rode Dudley Doright twice in a row - why oh why do they blast that indoor portion of the queue with AC? They have to know that wet people are coming through the line. The first time, the seat was easier to get in and out of than I remembered. Then I ended up in the front seat the second time, and I'm sure it was not pretty for anyone watching me struggle out. Tip - if you think you'll have a hard time getting out, request not the front seat.


(older photo of Dudley in the dark)

Next: Popeyes. There are pay lockers next to the water rides - $4 for small & $5 for large. Alysia had won stuffed Chucky and stuffed Curious George while I rode stuff. We figured they were squishable, so we opted for the small locker. Ok, technically they did fit but there was a LOT of squishing to get our 2 bags plus 2 stuffies in there. We were committed and made it work. Squished the locker door shut. Headed towards Popeye - when Alysia discovered her phone in her pocket. We were not getting another locker just for that, so we asked for a bag at the little gift kiosk and they obliged.

Phone thusly protected and ready for a drenching, we got on the raft. It was as fun and wet as we remembered. I estimate you have a 80% chance of being fully soaked and a 95% chance of being very wet leaving this ride.

We were chilly (it never really warmed up all that much) but we swung back through the line for a 2nd ride, and the team member let us know that when there was no line we could just request to stay on the raft.

After the 2nd ride, I convinced Alysia we needed to stay on, and they let us - about half the people on the raft decided to stay also. Coerced her for a 4th ride, which was just the 2 of us - it's less fun that way, since a good chunk of the fun is watching people try to avoid the inevitable soaking, and then coming to an acceptance of their fate.

Figured they'd have somewhere to change afterwards - they do not, or else we didn't find it. We did find a very small bathroom (3 stalls). Changed in there awkwardly anyways, and came out much warmer.



We decided to ride Kong & Forbidden Journey again on our way out of the park.
Ended the evening with dinner at Cowfish. Also checked into our Southwest return flight while we were waiting on our meals (kudos to Alysia for the reminder!).

The brussels sprouts here are very good too! Had them and the High Class Hillbilly - aka pulled pork made into sushi roll form. Alysia had another tasty burger - the Big Squeal. They have big portions here. Along with Toothsome, this is one of our must-dos. The High Class Hillbilly has a fried potato web situation on top - nice and crispy. Hillbilly photo from previous visit (note the sushi in the background - friend said it was very good).





Universal with minimal lines and beautiful weather. That describes my perfect day!

 

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Oh I totally forgot, we also finished Scarecrow Stalk / Trick-or-Treating on Halloween morning!


They had the chocolate bars w/ maps 30% off on Sunday, and then all the scarecrows & candy disappeared on Monday.

 

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Ok, back to Tuesday 11/2. I "slept in" the latest of the whole vacation - 6:48am! At this point, that was a victory.

We were smarter today and planned to be to IoA by 8:30am, so as to be in line for Hagrids before early entry ended. Dropped our stuff at luggage services & checked out of Sapphire Falls




Entry to IoA was great - no lines or anything. Hagrids had a 40-50min wait or so posted, can't really remember - the line was stopped before even getting to Hagrid's hut. We switched to the single rider line instead, and had much better luck with this - maybe 5min wait (they said they had just opened the single rider line).


Popped over to Velocicoaster for a last ride this trip, and was rewarded with a short wait.






At 10am we were ready to join Harry on Forbidden Journey. We then took the Hogwarts Express to US.


Time for another Florean Fortescue's ice cream! Took this into Knockturn Alley and sat on some peaceful steps, watching people do spells.


Borgin & Burkes is a favorite store of ours, so we took a little mosey through there.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Of course, you can't go in Diagon Alley & not ride Gringotts!






We had time for MiB & Simpsons before our lunch at NBC.






Does anyone else sing "Spiderpig" at the end of the Spiderman ride?
Spiderpig, Spiderpig, does whatever a Spiderpig does.
Can he swing from a web? No he can't. He's a pig!


NBC is probably joining my list of must-dos. I had the buffalo chicken mac & cheese. OMG. This is quite possibly the best buffalo chicken mac & cheese I have ever had, and I have a fair amount of comparison. The buffalo chicken was just the right heat, and the mac & cheese was oh so good! The cheesy macaroni was perfect - properly stuck to the noodles and had a great stretchy melty texture even as I worked my way through the entire bowl. Aside from that, it also had bacon chunks & blue cheese. Wonderful flavor profile and one of the best consistencies ever. Obviously, I highly recommend this dish. I plowed into it before photo - and I have no regrets. Just imagine love in a dish.

Did another quick spin through Studios to hit the highlights, then abandoned Alysia there.


I had intended to go swimming on Monday night, just to be able to use the gorgeous Sapphire Falls pool. But it was so chilly as we were eating outside at Cowfish, it just would not have been enjoyable. So my new plan was to hop in the pool this afternoon for an hour before catching our plane. Alysia isn't a swimming fan - she hung out in the park for an extra hour before coming back to meet me in the lobby.

Said goodbye to the parks & had a last boat ride back to SF.


Grabbed my small bag preloaded w/ swim gear from luggage services. Went down to the fitness showers - there are proper changing rooms there. Unfortunately, my room key did not work to open the pool gate, so I asked at the check-in desk & they provided a pool key.


The water slide is very nice. There were a few kids & one other adult using it intermittently, so there was no real wait. The hot tub was also open. There is a shallow portion - about 6" or 8" deep - in the middle of the pool so that non-swimmers could wade across if desired. Had a great hour or so floating around & zipping down the slide. This was definitely a better choice than being cold Monday night.

After showering I met Alysia in the lobby where we grabbed the rest of the luggage and summoned an Uber at 5:15pm - our departure was scheduled for 7:55pm. Uber was 2 min out when we got the text from Southwest - flight delayed 30min. Which turned into 50min. Shoot. Would have much rather sat in the lobby or by the pool for that extra time than in the airport, but the alert was probably 3min too late.

Instead, we had a longer leisurely dinner in the airport, so we could have a bit more time maskless before waiting near our gate. Security was a breeze so we had plenty of time.


We had a great vacation!

Alysia has an App that says we walked 66.2 miles in 8 days in Orlando! No wonder we came back exhausted. Happy, and exhausted.


If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed the read. If not, well, you aren't reading this anyways

 

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Random Universal photos, starting with a decent Dragon fire picture to make up for the first two terrible embarrassments.

 

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Night Knight bus!

 

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Goodbye Everybody!

 

[TommyJK]

Your pics are fantastic! Great Trip report and I loved going through all of it.

Been to Universal a bunch but have never done HHN. Will love to do it one day in the future.

 

[macraven]

Your pictures are awesome !
I keep looking forward to what you will post next