Let's Hear Some HHN Reviews!

[Fan2CSkr]

Welcome back macraven! I was wondering when you were heading back. Overall impressions compared to past years? Where did you stay? Did you stay in the park till closing? I'm wondering how many people actually do that. Ride any rides at night? How were those lines? OK, I'll wait to ask more after you answer these!

 

[lorax123]

Hey Macraven. You were caught in that downpour Saturday night? We were at the B&T show when the storm hit. Sounded like it really came down outside!

And the Finnegans S&S Sunday night was a mess compared to Saturday night! Saturday night we were able to hit Screamhourse, Die-In, PsychoScarepy, Run and Dungeon of Terror with no waits.

But Sunday night, by the time we went through Die-in and Screamhouse, Psycho had a 60 minute wait, and it wasn't even 7pm yet! Pure chaos compared to Saturday night.

 

[patster734]

Hi everybody,

Returned home last night from our Universal trip. This was my first HHN experience. Mom and I did HHN Sunday (Oct. 8) evening while my wife and dad hung out at Citywalk, watching football games at the NBA restaurant. We had a lot of fun at HHN. We purchased express passes for the event plus we took advantage of the stay and scream so we had hardly any waits for the houses.

At 6pm, we headed to the stay and scream area, while the others left the park. When we got back to the waiting area, people were allowed in the ScreamHouse queue (uses part of the twister queue), so we got in line. The doors opened about 10 minutes later and we got to experience our first HHN house. Leaving ScreamHouse, we got in line to All-Nite Die_In which was short and moved quickly. After that house, we got in a huge line for PsychoScareapy, so used our express pass to get in quickly. As we exited this house, the line was quite a bit shorter, so we suspect that the long line was due to crowds arriving from the park entrance.

As we didn't know what kind of crowds to expect for Bill and Ted's show, we decided to head there for the 7:30 show even though it wasn't even 7 yet. Along the way, we came across the Run house and decided to enter it. There was no line for this house and we walked right in with no wait. Afterwards, we headed on to the Bill and Ted's. I loved the show and thought that it lived up to its reputation. I'm glad we caught it.

Afterwards, we used express pass to ride Jaws as I'd read here that it is a different experience at night. It is. This was the only ride we did during the HHN event.

Located next to Jaws, is the Dungeon of Terror. We used our express pass for this house. As we neared the entrance to this house, they experienced a power outage which caused a few minutes delay. Fortunately, the performer portraying the Storyteller kept peeking out and teasing my mom. After a while, two other performers started teasing my mom and other women waiting in line. If anybody here knows who was playing the Storyteller or the other two performers teasing the guests during the blackout, please thank them for us. They definitely made the delay enjoyable, especially the storyteller! This house turned out to be my favorite, partly because of the special treatment during the power outage.

Across the bridge, near MIB, were the last two houses, People Under the Stairs and PsychoPath. We used our express pass on both houses so we got through pretty quickly. At the People Under the Stairs, my mom wore the light hat so I made her lead the way, evil me.

By this time it was close to 10pm and time to hook back up with the others in Citywalk, so we passed through the Harvest of the Souls and the Horror Comes Home scare zones. We ended up skipping Deadtropolis and Blood Masquerade. We did catch the end of The Arrival and got to see Darkness walking around with his female assistants. We also missed the Sweet 16 Lagoon Show.

So to sum up, thanks to the advice I received here, we were able to see all 7 houses, two scare zones, the Bill and Ted's show and ride Jaws in under 4 hours. We enjoyed all the houses. My favorite house was Dungeon of Terror. Hopefully, I'll be able to attend another HHN event next year.

 

[macraven]

Welcome back macraven! I was wondering when you were heading back. Overall impressions compared to past years? Where did you stay? Did you stay in the park till closing? I'm wondering how many people actually do that. Ride any rides at night? How were those lines? OK, I'll wait to ask more after you answer these!

this year i stayed at the royal pacific and did a late check out. my flight left 8:30 pm and i ended up getting home from ohare right after midnight early tuesday morning. i now need a vacation to recovery from my vacation..

friday the lines were gone by 11:30. i stayed and yaked with a friend that works at universal for a long time.
the ones that stayed this night had the greatest times of doing the houses with little , if any, lines before closing. it was great, no crowds at the end of the event.

saturday was another story. thankful i had my express pass. i did stay and scream fri and sat at the area of jaws, right next to dungeon house.
less than 15 people were at this stay and scream area. i went opposite of the crowds and did not use my epp until after 9 this night.

when the rains hit, people scrambled. the lines for die in vanished and i got in within 4 minutes. hit another house after that one, scream, and again no lines. once the rain was over, had to use the epp.
it was so crowded that a show was added to bill and tedd that night.
the lines for houses continued to closing. definitely not long as during the early evening but about 15 minutes wait at 1:30 which amazed me. usually at that time it is a walk in.

did not rides on saturday due to wanting to repeat houses.

sunday set up was not like the other nights. this time i went to finnegans which was a big mistake. i did walk over to the s & s area by jaws and they only had a small group there waiting. finnegans crowd was over flowing

when we got the go ahead to leave, lines were long for the houses in that area. the people from IOA were released early and came to the studios by 6:30. now that i think of it, the houses did not open up until about 6:25-30

i went opposite of the crowds as much as i could but did not use the epp until 9 this night. i do the houses twice before i use the epp except on this night.

i was not as thrilled with PUTS so i used the epp right away on that house.
on friday puts had dim lights on. on saturday, they tweaked the house and gave out the mining hats with lights and darkened the house. still did not change my opinion of it.

i stay unti the park closes during hhn. i concentrate on the houses and do them twice before i use the epp. did the mummy ride of course but did not do other rides as i do them in the daytime before hhn begins.

i had my favorite houses and scarezones. did love the chain saw drill team as they moved around the park each night.


next question please......

 

[macraven]

Hey Macraven. You were caught in that downpour Saturday night? We were at the B&T show when the storm hit. Sounded like it really came down outside!

And the Finnegans S&S Sunday night was a mess compared to Saturday night! Saturday night we were able to hit Screamhourse, Die-In, PsychoScarepy, Run and Dungeon of Terror with no waits.

But Sunday night, by the time we went through Die-in and Screamhouse, Psycho had a 60 minute wait, and it wasn't even 7pm yet! Pure chaos compared to Saturday night.

i totally agree with you
sunday night compared to saturday night at the stay and scream area was as different as night and day.

up to 2 years ago, the general admission was at 7 pm.
last year and this year it has been a 6:30 admission.
with sunday the release from s & s being released close to the same time of the event starting, made the lines long from the start. the three houses close to the entrance felt the wait lines right away.

i prefer the 7 pm general admission time. that way the s & s people can get a head start and complete 3 houses early.
there was no advantage of stay and scream on sunday at the location i was at.

 

[Stepharoonie!]

Well, I don't want to be bashed, but Universal has gone WAY downhill in the last few years...not sure if I'll go back anytime soon.

My sister and I went to HHN on Thursday the 12th. Got there at 5:30 p.m., they let us in the gates at 6. We walked right in People Under the Stairs then went to MIB; walked right in Dungeon of Terror, same with Run. Went to Monsters Cafe to have dinner (used to LOVE this place!!), but the quality of the food was HORRIBLE. The floors were slick with water, and we both nearly busted our butts. The employees there were not overly friendly, and were yelling back and forth at each other.

Afterwards, walked onto Mummy and All Nite Die In, and went back to do PsychoHouse. Around the time, it was getting rrreeealllly late, so we did MIB once more and made Screamhouse our last stop (not a big clown fan, so no love lost on Psychoscareapy).

Longest wait was maybe 20 minutes, but the lines were constantly moving.

Our gripes were as follows.....

1. The way they herded everyone from one place to another. My sister's bf showed up at one point, and we were right by the Vampire scarezone by Mel's, so we waited for him there. There was a "rope barrier" between Mel's and the alley, and the employee would NOT let him cross over to where we were. He said once you left that side of the park, you would have to walk all the way around to get back. We argued for a few minutes (there was NO ONE else in that area...and it was ONE person wanting to meet us!), and he finally let him through. From about 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., there were lots of ropes at the front of the park, forcing you to "follow" Univeral's map guideline.

2. Quality of food. Sorry, it was just gross. Sis and her bf had pizza and a slice of apple pie. Pizza was severly burned, and when sis asked for a piece that wasn't so dark, she got an eyeroll and was told that was all there was. I got a fruit cup, but it was really soggy and tasted a bit off.

3. Why is someone gonna sell you a bottle of water mere steps from the entrance of a house, only to be told you CAN'T take food or drinks into it? I had just bought a $2.50 bottle of water about two minutes from the entrance, and they guy made me throw it away. However, the woman in front of me had a giant inflatable bat she was able to carry. Huh.

4. Houses were lame compared to past years. And the way they pushed people through, it wasn't scary. Because it was a constant stream of people, you could see where all of the scare actors were, so we were never surprised. It wasn't a HUGE deal, but it was a bit annoying because you go expecting to get at least one scare...nada.

5. UNDERAGE DRINKING. Holy cow. I have NEVER in my life seen so many drunk kids 18 and under. The drink carts in the house lines were NOT checking id's and kids of all ages were pretty out of it. I'm not saying it was a 10-14 year old, but a LOT of young kids could be seen with jell-o shots and beer. We overheard a group of teeny-boppers wondering if they could get a Corona to share...sure enough, they got it on their own. Universal needs to really take control of that one.

6. Appearance of the park. My family and I have been going to UO for YEARS, even went opening day. The appearance of the park is just bad now. Unfortunetly, it's really lagging in some areas. In Jaws, the ride was very, very dirty. The boat that Jaws "attacks" first when you round the corner is moldy from years of going in and out of the water. There is literally a black line of mold on the canvas top of the boat. Just how hard is it for someone to go out there maybe once a week and clean it? And the "dead" Jaws at the end? He's GREEN now! It was really, really gross. The amount of trash in the areas of the park were amazing. Never saw one custodian. Bathrooms were very dirty as well.

7. Express pass. I'm not complaining because we didn't get it (didn't need it at all), but I wonder why UO charges for theirs when Disney's is free. When we first got to the park, there were lots of employees walking around screaming that you NEEDED to buy this pass or you wouldn't get into all of the houses. Not a really nice marketing strategy.

So, I guess that's it. Lots of disappointment...and what happened to the scare zones?! They sucked! I was especially disappointed with the zombie zone. Only one girl really looked and "acted" like a zombie...the rest just looked like regular people with a little make-up. I remember the Midway of the Bizarre scare zone 10 years ago...THAT was pretty awesome. Today's? Not so much.

Again, no flames...just sharing my opinion.

 

[Stepharoonie!]

The one with the harvest/pumpkins also had a dwarf in it dressed up. I thought he was funny, but he was getting a lot of negative feedback. One little girl, about 14, who was only a little taller than him, screamed in his face and called him a little F*&*er! Everyone was teasing him.

That guy is a comic customer of my husband's...I'll have to ask him how it's been for him!

 

[yaytezIOA]

Well, I don't want to be bashed, but Universal has gone WAY downhill in the last few years...not sure if I'll go back anytime soon.


Again, no flames...just sharing my opinion.

SMASH, BASH, CRASH, chucked into the garbage....
And WDW is so great on the up keep.
They have their good times and bad times. HHN, in my opinion is a bad time because its pretty much the end of their year. This is the big event and it sees the most traffic. Go again, you'll be surprised in December how nice everything looks.
Take your ears off this time when you go

 

[lorax123]

i totally agree with you
sunday night compared to saturday night at the stay and scream area was as different as night and day.

up to 2 years ago, the general admission was at 7 pm.
last year and this year it has been a 6:30 admission.
with sunday the release from s & s being released close to the same time of the event starting, made the lines long from the start. the three houses close to the entrance felt the wait lines right away.

i prefer the 7 pm general admission time. that way the s & s people can get a head start and complete 3 houses early.
there was no advantage of stay and scream on sunday at the location i was at.

I agree. For the most part it looked like APers and FF customers made up our S&S area (saw many chainsaw wolf and HHN Vault shirts), give the loyal fans a little break! After all the promoting we do! DW and I have gotten at least 20+ people to check out HHN alone. This year we brought a group of 10 with us!
After blowing $300 for a weekend of HHN tickets... I don't want to have to buy EPs for an off-peak night.

 

[lorax123]

That guy is a comic customer of my husband's...I'll have to ask him how it's been for him!

We saw the little person in HOS Sunday night and we thought he was a great addition. What troll would walk up to him and say something like that? Especially a 14 year old!?! That's just wrong.

BTW was that little person the same guy who works the turnstiles at IOA?

 

[damo]

7. Express pass. I'm not complaining because we didn't get it (didn't need it at all), but I wonder why UO charges for theirs when Disney's is free.

What Disney gives for free is just remotely similar to what UO charges for. With UO's pass you can ride every ride in the express line without having to make an appointment or wait two hours to get another appointment. You could never get a fastpass for every ride at Disney park to ride whenever you wanted and one after another unless the lines were really, really short. In that case you wouldn't get one at UO either.

 

[Stepharoonie!]

SMASH, BASH, CRASH, chucked into the garbage....
And WDW is so great on the up keep.
They have their good times and bad times. HHN, in my opinion is a bad time because its pretty much the end of their year. This is the big event and it sees the most traffic. Go again, you'll be surprised in December how nice everything looks.
Take your ears off this time when you go

Um...okay. Obviously you're trying to rile me up since you put in that happy little stir pot smilie

I never said that Disney was better at keeping up their parks...but remembering how UO USED to be versus how it was now was pretty sad.

I'll proudly wear my mouse ears or any other hat on my head as I please

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Um...okay. Obviously you're trying to rile me up since you put in that happy little stir pot smilie

I never said that Disney was better at keeping up their parks...but remembering how UO USED to be versus how it was now was pretty sad.

I'll proudly wear my mouse ears or any other hat on my head as I please

I agree with your entire overview of HHN. I actually worked 3 years of halloween horror nights, most of the time doing attractions (Hulk, Cat in the Hat). Anyways... I just got back from HHN last night and it was horrible. The amount of people there was sickening. I seriously had about 2 inches maximum of personal space all around me the entire night, especially near The Mummy. First of all, The Mummy closed twice... both times while having 100 min wait times (more than that in line, I timed it). Secondly, I went on very few things in my 5 hours there, the mummy the first time... waited about 1 hour and it closed and I didn't ride, they kicked everyone out of the line. Then went on RUN Hostile territory, waited 100 min and was not worth it. Then went back to The Mummy, waited another 100 min, then rode. Jumped on MIB (the secret back entrance), 90 min wait but really was 2 min for me, then the Bill and Ted's show... only highlight of the evening.

I know it was Fri the 13th and that the express was sold out and blah blah... but they should have called a "sold out" WAAAAY before they allowed that many people into the park.

All in all... limited rides, lousy service by the cast members, long lines, bad theming, ect... it was pretty sad.

 

[jpeppers]

I was there for Friday the 13th too and I agree it was horrible. They oversold the event by a ton. They said ahead of time that it was sold out yet at my hotel I heard people being told by Universal that if they came over they would sell them tickets. My biggest problem was the $60 I paid for the express pass. Most of the houses had the express entrance and the standby entrance in the same line so you had to stand in the regular line for awhile until the lines split. It meant a long wait before you could even get to your line. We used our express pass on 2 houses and the Mummy and after that we had enough and left. It was very hard fighting our way out of the park. They had way too many people in the park and I think they way oversold the express passes. Our wait for the mummy with express was 30 minutes at 10:00 and we actually heard an attendant at the ride telling people not to even bother getting in the standby line. We were also there on Sunday the 8th and thought the crowds were huge but nothing compared to last night. I know this won't be popular but we went to Howl-O-Scream on Thursday and it was great. It completely blew HHN away. I have been to the past 4 HHN's and am an AP holder but I doubt I will return anytime soon after the experience on Friday. I understood and expected a large crowd (thats why we bought the express passes) but the crowd level was absurd.

 

[F-L-A]

Hmm, I think I'll go on Friday the 13th and then complain about the large crowds. Yes, I'm a genius!

 

[robvia]

Right, I was asking Lance (Screamscape) about the crowd levels, and he also thinks they over sold the event.

 

[BigTiggerGuy]

OK, I'm the big mouth that started this thread and I can see things are starting to get a bit ugly now.......
I just got back last night and I'll post my full review when I get a chance. Let me just say, that as a first timer......I LOVED IT! We specifically went on Thursday the 12th because we KNEW Friday the 13th would be insanely crowded. My entire group loved it......although, "Jack's House of Poop(Psychoscarepy)" is a smell that still lingers with us
All in all great time......more details to follow!

 

[Stepharoonie!]

Hmm, I think I'll go on Friday the 13th and then complain about the large crowds. Yes, I'm a genius!

There's no reason to be rude.

 

[jpeppers]

No, I'm complaining about paying $60 more than the general admission people and then being sent through the same line even though the web site says it will be separate lines with an express pass. I knew it would be crowded but they needed to do a better job of controlling the crowd. I love universal but this was ridiculous.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Hmm, I think I'll go on Friday the 13th and then complain about the large crowds. Yes, I'm a genius!

That's not the point... previous years they would have sold out that date weeks in advance on much lower attendance levels for both parks. It just didn't make sense that they would allow it to get that bad.

Also I was complaining mostly about the attendance level, yes. But atmosphere, service, houses, everything has pretty much gone down in quality. No i'm not a disney lover and a universal basher, hell I worked at the park for 3 years, I just one person with one opinion since this thread is labeled "lets hear some HHN reviews".