Monsters, Candy Apples, Pumpkins, Vampires, Witches, Haunted Houses, Scares Zones and more. HHN 31 trip.

Robo56 · Feb 8, 2023

I always stop in the Magical Menagerie to see what new stuffed creatures have arrived and walk around the side of the building to see the the Parseltongue snake.

They had these new clocks in Globus Mundi And I was tempted to buy one.

I keep saying I’am going to set up one of the guest rooms at home with Potter things. I think I need to get going on it. One of these clocks would do I think.

Needed a shot of the Dragon on Gringotts.

Robo56 · Feb 8, 2023

Some more items in Globus Mundi. The TM said that they have been selling the luggage very well. I have been tempted, but really do not need anymore luggage.

They have luggage for every House and the brown one is a Hogwarts suitcase.

There is something for all your travel needs.

Robo56 · Feb 8, 2023

I left Diagon Alley as it was getting pretty crowded and decided to walk around and take some more photos of the Halloween decorations.

These stacked Pumpkins were cool.

I had really wanted to go into the Meetz Locker Alley during the day.

The food options were to say the least nasty sounding….LOL

Spoiled Angry Bear Meat and Fried Zombie Brains…..Halloween Zombie Yum food….LOL

Robo56 · Feb 8, 2023

After walking through Meetz Locker I went back out on the street for some more photos.

They did a great job with the Halloween decorations this year.

To be continued

Robo56 · Feb 10, 2023

Friday, September 16th continued

I really liked the colorful Witches Float in the Sweet Revenge Scare Zone.

If I could only get Universal to bring these floats and park them in front of my house for the Halloween season.

This Gargoyle Demon Graveyard Float was cool too.

The Tribute Store was awesome this year.

After my walk around in the Studios I decided to head out of the park back to Portofino.

There was a boat waiting at the dock for Portofino when I got there.

After I got in the room my sister was already back from the pool. She was resting.

I went in and took my bubble bath and I was ready for a nap.

It started raining really hard about 3:30 pm. So it was perfect nap weather.

To be continued

Robo56 · Feb 11, 2023

Friday, September 16th continued

After a good nap it was time to think about dinner. My sister had looked online for restaurants near by. I told her I was up for any idea. So we decided to go to the Mexican restaurant she found.

It was called

It was still misting rain out. I was glad for dry walk to the parking garage.

The restaurant was on Kirkland not far from Universal. It is in a shopping complex.

When we arrived they were busy, but there were a couple tables still open and we were seated pretty quickly. They serve salsa and chips while you waited for your meal. Both were good.

My sister ordered the Chicken Fajitas. It came with rice, Beans, salad plate and tortias.

I chose the pick 3 combination. It chose two tostadas and a pork tamale.

The food was served nice and hot and it was all very good. There was plenty of food left over.

After we were done we headed back to Portofino.

Once we got back to the Resort we decided to head over to HHN for a little while. It was misting still so we put on our ponchos and off we went.

More cool food booths

I was very intrigued by the Pepperoni Pizza Skulls they served ant this booth. For my Halloween Party this year I bought a Skull pan and tried my luck and they turned out ok.

These were my Skulls. They were a bit time consuming. But everyone like them.

Of course I liked this food booth.

Robo56 · Feb 11, 2023

We did a couple of Houses. We did Black Phone and Halloween again. It was starting to rain a little more so we decided to call it a night and head back to the boat for a ride back to the Portofino.

After a nice bubble bath I got into my pajamas and I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

To be continued

keishashadow · Feb 15, 2023

macraven said:
thank you for those pictures as I missed seeing that section!
I always enjoy any type of cat pics…especially for halloween time period

so much mummy dust in my eyes scurrying around HHN, I often forget to stop & smell the roses.

Robbie you have both a sharp eye details and are quite the talented photographer! Thanks for sharing. Bringing back some lovely memories of the event.

Robo56 · Feb 15, 2023

keishashadow said:
so much mummy dust in my eyes scurrying around HHN, I often forget to stop & smell the roses.

I’am trying harder to stop and smell the roses more often too.

keishashadow said:
Robbie you have both a sharp eye details and are quite the talented photographer! Thanks for sharing. Bringing back some lovely memories of the event.

Thank you Janet I do enjoy taking photos.

You’re so welcome. I’am so glad you enjoyed reading along and looking at the photos.

Robo56 · Feb 15, 2023

Saturday, September 17th

It was our last full day of vacation. My sister wanted to relax by the pool. She still works as an RN and some relaxing peace by the pool was what she wanted.

I decided to do a walk through IOA and maybe do a couple rides.

I got dressed and out the door I went. The Water Taxi was at the dock and I was lucky to get a seat as it was pretty full. I guess the Waterway Goddess had been sending good boat wishes my way. More often then not the this trip the Water Taxi had been at the dock in CItyWalk and at Portofino when I arrived.

I wanted to start the morning off at IOA.

I planned to go into Poseidon’s Fury. I had read it had undergone a refurbishment and wanted to see what was different. This is not a ride. It would be considered a walk through show I guess.

I had Unlimited Express with staying at Portofino and it appeared everyone else did too…LOL…There were a lot of people in the lines inside and it was hard to ascertain how many people were inside until you rounded the corner inside.

I decided to wait it out and at the 25 minute mark I almost gave up until the section of the line I was in finally moved into the first chamber. The Actress started the show and this was not different from last time I saw it. After the skit in the first chamber we went into the next one and before the Actress was able to get very far into this skit the alarms went off and we were ushered out of the back of the building.

The line exiting the building seemed like it took forever. The huge crowed weaved around the back of the building to the side. The people who were inside in line waiting to see the show were ushered out what appeared to be a side exit and they joined the line In front of us.

Oh well so much for that…LOL

The Green Eggs and Ham, Tater Tots and Who Hash walk up seemed to being doing a nice business. For a number of years it was closed when I would walk by. Nice to see folks are getting to enjoy their Tater Tot meals again.

I decided to give Kong another try as it had been down a few days ago. It was down again.

It was already 12:30 pm so I decided to go to lunch at Confisco Grille. The check in desk folks saw my Annual Pass and asked if I wanted to go to The Passholder dining area upstairs and I said sure.

I do like that Universal has a Passholder dining areas at Confisco Grille and Lombards. These dining areas are not always open, but you can ask. I know they typically are at the end of August and September.

The Passholder Dining Room

I ordered the Summer Hummus again. I had this dish a few days ago and it was delicious. I wanted to sample the Chicken Quesadilla.

When they brought the hummus it looked as good as it had the last time. The Quesadilla was dry and had very little chicken in it. I had the waitress take it back to kitchen and the second one was much better.

Marie was my waitress and she was fantastic. I had her for a waitress when I had been in a few days ago.

Worfiedoodles · Feb 15, 2023

I love that you went alone when you wanted to do something in the parks and your sister didn’t. Everyone got what they wanted.

Such a shame so many rides were down.

That hummus looks delicious!

macraven · Feb 15, 2023

Again I have to say your pictures you have shared with us are fantastic!

wdwrule · Feb 15, 2023

Excellent report and pics!! It’s such a bummer when you have those days when rides are down and/or glitchy.

Love the lounge at Confisco’s! We were there too during that time period and loved the decaying Jack-o-lanterns.

Side note: thought of you when I saw a rumor for one of this year’s potential HHN house… “Universal Monsters: Dracula vs. Phantom of the Opera” Just a rumor at this point

Robo56 · Feb 15, 2023

After lunch I headed back to the dock in CityWalk to catch the boat back to Portofino. The boat showed up in no time and I was on my way to the resort.

My sister was I guess still at the pool. So I had a nice bubble bath and got into some comfy cloths and got into my bed for a nice nap. It started raining right before I fell asleep.

Later when I woke up my sister was back from the pool And napping too. She said she had lunch while she was at the pool.

After a nice nap we started packing up so we would be ready to leave in the morning early.

We went to HHN for a quick walk through. It was humid and about 76 degrees. I will take 76 degrees over 80 to 90 and humid any day.

We went through 3 houses Universal Monsters, Halloween and one of our favorites Dead Man’s Pier: Winters Wake.

We said goodbye to the Pumpkin Lord and hunted for another Lil Boo straw cup and called it a night. We needed to get up early in the morning to head back home,

A few things that happened during trip as I was loo king through my pictures was the Funnel Cloud over Epcot.

I will just say whoever was at Epcot on this day had to be scared for sure. You can see the outer rain bands on either side of the funnel cloud. So glad it did not turn into a Tornado.

The other sad thing that happened while we were on vacation was the death of a precious classy lady. The Queen of England. She was a Queen a Mom, grandmother, Great-grandmother and a faithful servant of God and her people. May she rest in peace.

We had a pretty uneventful ride home back to Southern Indiana. It was long, but the trip was so worth it.

We stopped in for gas at Buc-ee’s and look who was making the rounds.

I had a wonderful vacation and I was so glad my little sister K was able to make it and she was able to get some much needed R&R from her busy life as a Nurse.

We had a wonderful stay at Portofino. We felt well cared for there and the Staff were wonderful.

Favorite Houses were

1. Dead Man’s Pier: Winters Wake. This was not a scary house to me, but the Artistry that went into making the house was fantastic.

2. Halloween. This house was based off the original Halloween movie and Mikey was everywhere and it was awesome.

3. Universal Monsters: Legends Collide. I really liked this house, but I felt there could have been more on Dracula and the Wolfman. The theming was Mummy heavy, but I liked it a lot.

4. HellBlock Horror. I will have to hand to Universal HHN Creators. I heard this house was thrown together in little over a week and it was good and gory.

5. Bugs Eaten Alive. This house was not scary to me, but the story line and design was interesting.

6. Blumehouse: Freaky and BlackPhone. I enjoyed taking photos in these houses during the UMH Tour. Both had interesting stories.

7. Fiesta de Chupaccabras. This was an interesting house. The use of hand held masks by the scare Actors was interesting.

8. Descendants of Destruction. The design inside and out was cool. I did not find this house scary.

9. Spirits of the Coven. I enjoyed walk through, but did not find this house scary.

10. The Weekend. This house I think really appealed to the younger ones who were familiar with his music. It reminded me of the Vanity Ball Scare Zone from HHN 29. The strobe effects in this house were very strong and to me distracting.

Scarezones

1. Graveyard: Deadly Unrest. I really enjoyed this scare zone. The twins were fantastic.

2. Scarecrow: Cursed Soil. This was a fun Scare zone and the Scare Actors were very good.

3. Sweet Revenge. This was another fun Scare Zone and the back story was interesting.

4. Conjure the Dark. The Actress that played the Sorceress in this Scare Zone was fantastic.

5. Horrors of Halloween. The Pumpkin Lord held court at the beginning of this Scare Zone and the Actors who played the Pumpkin Lord were awesome. The Witch on stilts in this Scare Zone was phenomenal and the make up was off the charts.

I loved the beautiful Halloween Store in IOA.

The Tribute store was beautiful as always.

Thank you to my little sister K for going on this adventure with me.

Thank you to all the Staff at Portofino for making our stay there so special. You are fantastic.

Thank you to all the Scare Actors and Actresses for your wonderful devotion to your characters. You are all awesome and I’am so thankful for all you do to make the HHN experience so special for all of us who attend.

Thank you to the HHN Creative Directors. Without your vision and creative genius there would be no HHN.

The Artists who created the interior and exterior of the Houses, Scare Zones, Tribute Store and Halloween Boutique are incredibly talented. Thank you for your artistic vision you all are awesome.

A special thank you to the TM’s, Waiters and Waitresses in the Parks and Resorts for yours smiling faces and kindness,

Last, but not in anyway least a big Thank You to the Disboards for being a home for people like me to share my love of Universal and HHN with others.