My opinion of HHN

[Rip]

This isn't intended to be any sort of detailed report, as others have done a fine job of providing those. We just returned and I thought I'd share our general opinion of the event this year as well as how we ranked the houses. Having been to HHN annually since 2000 (with the exception of 2005 - Katrina made it impossible for us that year), I will say that while we had a great time and will absolutely be back next year, this year was our least favorite. Personally, I think HHN 18 was the pinnacle for both the event as well as the website.

Scarezones - Bring them back! I was really looking forward to the idea of no safe zones, but, at least on the nights we were there, pretty much 90% of the park was a safe zone. They just didn't hire the number of additional scare actors necessary to successfully pull it off. Even at the exit of The Walking Dead house, we felt that they were really light on the whole "zombie horde" ending. The one time we saw a decent amount of scare actors they were all together in one relatively small area in front of T2. Overall a disappointment, IMO.

Houses:

1. Gothic - our favorite this year and really one of the better ones over the years. Costumes were great.

2. Silent Hill - Having never played the games and only seeing about 15 minutes of the movie before getting bored and turning it off, I still thought it was a really good, pleasantly long house with great themes and costumes.

2. Dead End - Yes, I put "2" twice as I really can't decide which I liked better. Pretty much the same level of detail as Silent Hill.

4. The Walking Dead - Having been a fan of both the comics as well as the series, I really wanted this to be my favorite. Unfortunately it was not. Chief complaints were that it was rather short, rather light on zombies, and was rather "bare" in terms of props. What was in there was really good, but we felt they kind of skimped with respect to the potential they had with this house.

5. Welcome to my Nightmare - I'm a fan of Alice Cooper, so I "got" most of it and I thought they did a good job with the props and costumes.

6. House of Horrors - I liked it, went through it 3 times, but probably will struggle to remember it by next year.

7. Penn and Teller - I didn't hate it, but I had no desire to do it ever again after one time. I thought going in to this that it had the potential to be one of the best houses they had ever had, given that their "funny" house is usually quite good and P&T are very entertaining. Big disappointment (as an aside, my wife actually DID hate it, she said "I've never been through a haunted house anywhere in my life that sucked that bad").

Bill and Ted - funny, but not one of their best. I'd watch it again, though (after already seeing it twice).

20 Penny Circus - eh, it's more of that "I can walk on nails and shove them in my eye" type of illusions, and honestly a lot of their illusions were pretty easy to pick apart. The mentalist was kinda funny, but I wouldn't go back if they ever are there again.

General - The lack of an overall theme, having one less house, and the lack of an icon were VERY noticeable. I hope this was a one-time experiment, and I may be mistaken but I thought that some of the people in charge of creative for this event have left over the past 2 years, so maybe that had something to do with it as well. Also, I'm sure that having 2 major attractions being constructed simultaneously played a role as well. In the end, it was fun and enjoyable, but a bit lacking when compared with previous years.

 

[Metro West]

Thanks Rip...good report.

I think the problem this year w/o having a theme or icon is...it seemed to be thrown together instead of carefully planned out. The houses were great even the ones I really didn't care for but overall...just lacking. You can definitely tell Roddy isn't doing it any more. Just look at the website...pitiful for a company Universal's size and an event of HHN's reputation. I hope whoever worked on it is flipping burgers somewhere.

IMHO...scarezones had gone downhill since 2005/2006 so those need to come back next year bigger and better than ever!

I'm going Sunday night for a last hurrah until next year. I'll be sad to see it end again but there's always next year.

 

[Rip]

Thanks Rip...good report.

I think the problem this year w/o having a theme or icon is...it seemed to be thrown together instead of carefully planned out. The houses were great even the ones I really didn't care for but overall...just lacking. You can definitely tell Roddy isn't doing it any more. Just look at the website...pitiful for a company Universal's size and an event of HHN's reputation. I hope whoever worked on it is flipping burgers somewhere.

IMHO...scarezones had gone downhill since 2005/2006 so those need to come back next year bigger and better than ever!

I'm going Sunday night for a last hurrah until next year. I'll be sad to see it end again but there's always next year.

Totally agree!

ETA - ok, not "totally", those flying monkeys at HHN 18 and the school yard were my favorite scarezones ever.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

Thanks Rip...good report.

I think the problem this year w/o having a theme or icon is...it seemed to be thrown together instead of carefully planned out. The houses were great even the ones I really didn't care for but overall...just lacking. You can definitely tell Roddy isn't doing it any more. Just look at the website...pitiful for a company Universal's size and an event of HHN's reputation. I hope whoever worked on it is flipping burgers somewhere.

IMHO...scarezones had gone downhill since 2005/2006 so those need to come back next year bigger and better than ever!

I'm going Sunday night for a last hurrah until next year. I'll be sad to see it end again but there's always next year.

I wish I had been able to go to the event prior to 2005, which was my first year... I loved when HHN was in both IOA and the Studios. The websites of previous years' events were incredibly detailed.. lots of animation, interactive media, hidden easter eggs, etc.

I've had fun at the two nights I've gone this year, some of the houses have been great (Gothic and Dead End, specifically), and I've gotten good scares around the park. But.. I miss the scarezones. I love HHN and I always will, but I wish the effort of previous years' was present this year. I'll be going back a few more nights this year, though

 

[Planogirl]

I hope that we won't be disappointed since it's our first time but we also have nothing to compare it to so that might be good. I was disappointed to not see an actual theme this time and thought about waiting but the lure of Silent Hill and the Walking Dead (uh oh...) was just too big.

Thanks for the reviews.

 

[Rip]

I hope that we won't be disappointed since it's our first time but we also have nothing to compare it to so that might be good. I was disappointed to not see an actual theme this time and thought about but the lure of Silent Hill and the Walking Dead (uh oh...) was just too big.

Thanks for the reviews.

I'm sure you won't be disappointed, we still had a lot of fun and the houses are still very enjoyable.

 

[heidijanesmith]

This isn't intended to be any sort of detailed report, as others have done a fine job of providing those. We just returned and I thought I'd share our general opinion of the event this year as well as how we ranked the houses. Having been to HHN annually since 2000 (with the exception of 2005 - Katrina made it impossible for us that year), I will say that while we had a great time and will absolutely be back next year, this year was our least favorite. Personally, I think HHN 18 was the pinnacle for both the event as well as the website.

Scarezones - Bring them back! I was really looking forward to the idea of no safe zones, but, at least on the nights we were there, pretty much 90% of the park was a safe zone. They just didn't hire the number of additional scare actors necessary to successfully pull it off. Even at the exit of The Walking Dead house, we felt that they were really light on the whole "zombie horde" ending. The one time we saw a decent amount of scare actors they were all together in one relatively small area in front of T2. Overall a disappointment, IMO.

Houses:

1. Gothic - our favorite this year and really one of the better ones over the years. Costumes were great.

2. Silent Hill - Having never played the games and only seeing about 15 minutes of the movie before getting bored and turning it off, I still thought it was a really good, pleasantly long house with great themes and costumes.

2. Dead End - Yes, I put "2" twice as I really can't decide which I liked better. Pretty much the same level of detail as Silent Hill.

4. The Walking Dead - Having been a fan of both the comics as well as the series, I really wanted this to be my favorite. Unfortunately it was not. Chief complaints were that it was rather short, rather light on zombies, and was rather "bare" in terms of props. What was in there was really good, but we felt they kind of skimped with respect to the potential they had with this house.

5. Welcome to my Nightmare - I'm a fan of Alice Cooper, so I "got" most of it and I thought they did a good job with the props and costumes.

6. House of Horrors - I liked it, went through it 3 times, but probably will struggle to remember it by next year.

7. Penn and Teller - I didn't hate it, but I had no desire to do it ever again after one time. I thought going in to this that it had the potential to be one of the best houses they had ever had, given that their "funny" house is usually quite good and P&T are very entertaining. Big disappointment (as an aside, my wife actually DID hate it, she said "I've never been through a haunted house anywhere in my life that sucked that bad").

Bill and Ted - funny, but not one of their best. I'd watch it again, though (after already seeing it twice).

20 Penny Circus - eh, it's more of that "I can walk on nails and shove them in my eye" type of illusions, and honestly a lot of their illusions were pretty easy to pick apart. The mentalist was kinda funny, but I wouldn't go back if they ever are there again.

General - The lack of an overall theme, having one less house, and the lack of an icon were VERY noticeable. I hope this was a one-time experiment, and I may be mistaken but I thought that some of the people in charge of creative for this event have left over the past 2 years, so maybe that had something to do with it as well. Also, I'm sure that having 2 major attractions being constructed simultaneously played a role as well. In the end, it was fun and enjoyable, but a bit lacking when compared with previous years.[/QUOTE

Thanks for the review of HHN this year. I have never been, but my DD loves to be scared and loved haunted houses. She will be 16 next Oct and wants to go to HHN for her birthday present. She loves haunted houses so much, she volunteers at our local haunted house.

We are planning to get express passes for HHN to help with the crowd levels and wait times. Do you have any advice for 1st timer? Touring plans or just go with the flow?

I love Halloween but I am super claustrophobic and can not handle our local haunted house (crawling in tunnels, small tight spaces). Any claustrophobia issues with HHN houses? I plan on purchasing a ticket and hanging out, enjoying the scenery while DH and DD tour the houses.

 

[Planogirl]

I've heard that there is a part in one house where you have to kind of bend over to get through. I hope that someone comes along and describes it.

I am claustrophobic too and I can't handle what I call squeezie tunnels. You know those inflatable things you have squeeze through that so many haunted houses use now? I hate those things but it appears that Universal doesn't use them.

 

[Metro West]

I've heard that there is a part in one house where you have to kind of bend over to get through. I hope that someone comes along and describes it.

House of Horrors has a short section that makes you crouch down but it's only one small section. There is an alternate route you can take so it shouldn't be a big deal.

 

[heidijanesmith]

House of Horrors has a short section that makes you crouch down but it's only one small section. There is an alternate route you can take so it shouldn't be a big deal.

That's good to hear! I love alternate routes

 

[macraven]

i did the crouching down twice for that house.


the rest of the times i did that house, i use the alternate route.

turn to the left, walk about 4 steps, then turn right and walk straight when you come to that tunnel section where crouching is needed.

after the little walk around the tunnel, turn to the right, walk a few steps and that is the regular line of people coming out of the tunnel.

it is less than 30 seconds to do the walk around.

most of the times i did the alternate walk route, no TM was there to direct me.

but, i had heard about the route prior to attending hhn.

 

[Drfate102]

I really think the lack of on overall theme hurt it this year and the lack of scarezones. I did make sure I filled out their surveys about it and voiced that Opinion. We did do two nights this year, so we got to do everything. But next year, I get to see how they do HHN in Hollywood .

 

[Metro West]

I really think the lack of on overall theme hurt it this year and the lack of scarezones. I did make sure I filled out their surveys about it and voiced that Opinion.

Yeah...I agree that the lack of scarezones and themeing really hurt this year but they need to really make the scarezones scary...like they did prior to 2006. As I stated earlier in the thread, I thought the whole event was thrown together. I hope they can get it together for next year.

 

[Rip]

Thanks for the review of HHN this year. I have never been, but my DD loves to be scared and loved haunted houses. She will be 16 next Oct and wants to go to HHN for her birthday present. She loves haunted houses so much, she volunteers at our local haunted house.

We are planning to get express passes for HHN to help with the crowd levels and wait times. Do you have any advice for 1st timer? Touring plans or just go with the flow?

I love Halloween but I am super claustrophobic and can not handle our local haunted house (crawling in tunnels, small tight spaces). Any claustrophobia issues with HHN houses? I plan on purchasing a ticket and hanging out, enjoying the scenery while DH and DD tour the houses.

You're halfway there with already planning to purchase express passes. I've said it many times on here and I may sound like a snob but you'd have to pay me to go without them. I remember when they didn't have them, and then the year they started and they were actually a booklet with individual coupons for $25, I've gotten them every since. Houses can get 2+ hour wait times in the regular line, I wouldn't even do that if I were still local - unless you got the relatively newer frequent fear and rush of fear passes. EPs are $$$$ for a reason - unless you're local and have the ability to go multiple times and just kinda hang out in between, THEY ARE WORTH IT.

Second, get tickets to the park for the day and do the rides, then do the stay and scream add-on. That way you don't have to leave the park, get the rides done and can not only get at least 2 houses done before the big crowds get there, but you won't (and honestly shouldn't) feel the need to use up your time doing whatever rides they have open at the time plus adding it to a regular park ticket is cheaper than purchasing both separately.

The only other advice I'd give is to stay onsite if possible.