HHN - suitable for kids?

Should we take our 10-year-old nephew to HHN?

  • Yes

    Votes: 4 7.8%
  • No

    Votes: 47 92.2%

  • Total voters
    51

emma_oneill89

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 3, 2019
Planning a big family holiday next year, which will include my 10-year-old nephew.

Will HHN be suitable for him? I've watched walk through vids etc and the houses never actually seem that scary, but I guess it's different to actually being there.

The rest of the group are 25>.

I'm not too bothered about actually going, but I don't want to give the kid nightmares.

Is the event genuinely scary? He doesn't get too freaked out watching old 80s horror films, but don't know how he'd handle seeing it in real life.
 
I vote no. Seeing things on screen and seeing physical things in real life are a different concept. Also, there is more than just the "scare" factor to consider.

This is an event geared towards adults. There is plenty of alcohol, adults being adults, and there can be some language involved in shows and/or houses. I do not recall exactly who it was on the forums, but I recall reading a review in the main HHN post that someone felt it was inappropriate to even have their teenage child there when it came to specific scare zones which had go-go dancers. I would say 13+ is about right, which is what HHN recommends, considering what we see in PG-13 movies nowdays. However, this is an event that is aimed towards adults, hence the theme, alcohol, and dancers.

Of course, what is deemed appropriate and inappropriate is based off each parent, as well as sometimes I feel if young children (or babies) are present it's also based off whether they can afford a babysitter, or not. In the end, there's more to consider other than just whether he'd be scared, or not.
 
This year with the non private tours, they do 3 beer/alcohol breaks
Surveys that were were sent out last year showed this was high on the list to be included in the tours
 


I would say it probably is a no go if it were me.

It's more the entire ambience than just the houses. HHN is def. more geared towards adult. My local amusement park is kinda the same way though they do more kid-oriented stuff during the day. My local amusement park actually says it's not recommended for those under 14 for their Halloween nighttime event which is just about in-line with Universal's recommendation.

I think you'd find most amusement or theme parks to be this way at nighttime during their respective evening Halloween events with Disney sorta being the one that is geared towards the younger crowd.
 
It depends on the child.
It is scary. But, that bothers some kids, not others
DGD went at 9 and it was too much for her. We thought it may be but she wanted to try. DD took her back to the room early.
DGD is begging to go back this year. She’s 11 now. She is so totally different now than she was at 9 that I’m sure she’ll handle it better than me.
She loves all things scary now
 
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I agree it depends on the child. I saw so many children this year. Most were having a great time.

Ghostbusters and Stranger Things brought out a younger crowd.

I mostly agree with Universal's 13 and up recommendation and thought that would apply for most years. The last few years were not really scary for me. Lots of fun, but not much in scariness.

There are lots of bars and places for adult drinking. I also see tons of security and police.

I did notice the language, lots of swearing by adults in lines. So, it is more of an adultish atmosphere in that regards.
 
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There are some British youtube vloggers,, The Despicable 3, who took their 8 year old son. They are a lovely family, and after he begged them to take him, they watched videos of it online with him to prepare him and they decided to give it a go.
Anyhow, turned out he loved it, but they employed some really good strategies to make sure it wasn’t too overwhelming, like just doing two houses in a night and having wind down time after each house to make sure he was ok.

I suggest you watch their vlog( they are extremely entertaining, especially the little guy!) to see how well they handled it!
 
We saw a lot of kids this year, many a lot younger than 10. While my daughter would not have liked it at 10 (now loves it at 15) it just depends on the child. A 10 year old boy that likes sci fi or pg-13 thriller movies would do fine imo.

I would talk with the other adults and make sure you always have a volunteer that is ready to “skip” a more gory house (like the Rob Zombie this year) and sit down with a treat, do some rides, or go into the Harry Potter area with him just in case if he isn’t really in to it.

It’s not really scary at all. My 15 year old, who is totally not into horror or even thriller movies, rolled he eyes at the thought of it being scary.

The vibe on Friday and the weekend is def more adult drinking date night. Just be prepared for that. You may have a loud group of drunk young 20 somethings a little too close for comfort as you are in line. -My husband says I can’t complain about them though, just like he can’t complain about a melting down 5 year old at Disney.....hey it’s kinda geared “for them”.
 
We saw a lot of kids this year, many a lot younger than 10. While my daughter would not have liked it at 10 (now loves it at 15) it just depends on the child. A 10 year old boy that likes sci fi or pg-13 thriller movies would do fine imo.

I would talk with the other adults and make sure you always have a volunteer that is ready to “skip” a more gory house (like the Rob Zombie this year) and sit down with a treat, do some rides, or go into the Harry Potter area with him just in case if he isn’t really in to it.

It’s not really scary at all. My 15 year old, who is totally not into horror or even thriller movies, rolled he eyes at the thought of it being scary.

The vibe on Friday and the weekend is def more adult drinking date night. Just be prepared for that. You may have a loud group of drunk young 20 somethings a little too close for comfort as you are in line. -My husband says I can’t complain about them though, just like he can’t complain about a melting down 5 year old at Disney.....hey it’s kinda geared “for them”.

These are two other good points to mention.

Also, I do not want to step on anyone's toes, or hurt their feelings, but to be blunt, some guests just do not like / feel uncomfortable that children are there. At least that is the vibe I get from certain things I've read and heard in the past and other places. However, at the same time, we obviously know that anyone can do whatever they want and any guest has the right to be there. As like @AJA said, you can't do much when there is a child at Disney having a melt down, nor do you want to tell a bunch of drunk 20 somethings to stop being loud. There's a lot to consider when children are involved.
 
These are two other good points to mention.

Also, I do not want to step on anyone's toes, or hurt their feelings, but to be blunt, some guests just do not like / feel uncomfortable that children are there. At least that is the vibe I get from certain things I've read and heard in the past and other places. However, at the same time, we obviously know that anyone can do whatever they want and any guest has the right to be there. As like @AJA said, you can't do much when there is a child at Disney having a melt down, nor do you want to tell a bunch of drunk 20 somethings to stop being loud. There's a lot to consider when children are involved.
That’s how I feel. If the event says 13+ recommended, I know I wouldn’t want little kids under foot. Just seems like a fun teen+ activity. I have no first hand knowledge though. I am a wuss! YouTube some clips for when Ellen Degeneres (sp??) sends her producer through the houses. I’d be as scared as him.
 
That’s how I feel. If the event says 13+ recommended, I know I wouldn’t want little kids under foot. Just seems like a fun teen+ activity. I have no first hand knowledge though. I am a wuss! YouTube some clips for when Ellen Degeneres (sp??) sends her producer through the houses. I’d be as scared as him.

I've only been a few times in the past. From what I heard, it's been reported this year (do not know how accurate it is) that SA are required to not "scare" children now. Once again, do not know how accurate that is. However, there is still plenty of "scary" things in this event, but there's more to it than that and "Will he/she be scared?" to think about. A lot of adults, adult content, alcohol, and other things are thrown into the mix. As well as, if it is true that SA are not required to not scare children, this probably adds more fuel to the fire as to why some adults do not want children to be there. I've heard claims that more babies seem to be popping up too. So, yeah, I may not go that frequently, but I can understand why guests would want the 13+ recommendation to be encouraged.
 
Planning a big family holiday next year, which will include my 10-year-old nephew.

Will HHN be suitable for him? I've watched walk through vids etc and the houses never actually seem that scary, but I guess it's different to actually being there.

The rest of the group are 25>.

I'm not too bothered about actually going, but I don't want to give the kid nightmares.

Is the event genuinely scary? He doesn't get too freaked out watching old 80s horror films, but don't know how he'd handle seeing it in real life.

My daughter (who wasn't afraid of anything and could watch horror movies, etc) went with us to Universal Hollywood in October 2003 (she was nearly 11), and walking through the haunted house thing she was nearly in tears and grabbing my hand wanting to "let's just go". We had to leave it. She was TERRIFIED of the people grabbing at you and coming after you.

This wasn't even a HHN event, just a normal day at the park in October. She was NOT amused by that haunted house thing. I think a HHN would have done her in.

She loved sci-fi, and horror movies. She had never been a "sensitive" kid and this scared the hell out of her.
 
I know this was a typo, but it cracked me up that they would have 'mom' private tours... and that those tours would make sure they did 3 beer/alcohol breaks. ;)
Yea it was a typo.
lol
I was in the parks and trying to read and type on the dis when I did that post
Now home and went back and edited all my typos.....and there are many.....
 
I've only been a few times in the past. From what I heard, it's been reported this year (do not know how accurate it is) that SA are required to not "scare" children now. Once again, do not know how accurate that is. However, there is still plenty of "scary" things in this event, but there's more to it than that and "Will he/she be scared?" to think about. A lot of adults, adult content, alcohol, and other things are thrown into the mix. As well as, if it is true that SA are not required to not scare children, this probably adds more fuel to the fire as to why some adults do not want children to be there. I've heard claims that more babies seem to be popping up too. So, yeah, I may not go that frequently, but I can understand why guests would want the 13+ recommendation to be encouraged.
The scare zones this year seemed dummied down.
In the five nights I did HHN, not much action in the scare zones.

With that type of change in hhn, kind of takes that "love" out of it for me.

In past years, the scare zones were always a hit for me and something I looked forward to.
This year, not so much.

I go with the changes as the houses make up for what the streets lacked.
 
I have a 10 year old and i will not be bringing him. I just view it as a more older teen/adult event/atmosphere, personally.
 
We are here now. DGD is loving everything
We’ve done 6 houses so far
Walked through 4 scare zones.
Watched the Villain show, second row seats!
We did the zones for Zombie land and Rob Zombie twice. I love the rob zombie one. She likes the vanity ball
Taking a break off our feet and doing 2 more houses. Then hope to catch the show in the water before the last 2 houses
 
I've only been a few times in the past. From what I heard, it's been reported this year (do not know how accurate it is) that SA are required to not "scare" children now. Once again, do not know how accurate that is. However, there is still plenty of "scary" things in this event, but there's more to it than that and "Will he/she be scared?" to think about. A lot of adults, adult content, alcohol, and other things are thrown into the mix. As well as, if it is true that SA are not required to not scare children, this probably adds more fuel to the fire as to why some adults do not want children to be there. I've heard claims that more babies seem to be popping up too. So, yeah, I may not go that frequently, but I can understand why guests would want the 13+ recommendation to be encouraged.
They have definitely targeted on DGD
Both in the houses and in the zones. Not just her but they have not avoided her at all
She does look older than 11 but is clearly young
 

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