Oct 7-9 RPR for HHN!

[lorax123]

Ok we haven't gone yet... but it's almost time!

So, yeah I'm pretty excited! I can't wait. 2 days and only 900 miles away! A weekend away from our 2.5 DD, a few days off work, HHN, lots of food and drink, and a king size bed at the RPR (that we don't have to share with a toddler who is the worlds worst bed hog).

This will be our 4th trip to Uni. in the past year. We are a little obsessed. :>

But if you have an AP, you gotta use it. Right?

This trip will be a little different than previous trips (hopefully cheaper too, the savings account is still hurting from our May trip). My father, his girlfriend, my sister, her 2 kids, Husband, MIL, and some 10 year old cousin, are already in Orlando enjoying themselves. We've never attended HHN with any of our friends (RIP tour groups don't count, do they?), so this should be alot of fun. My wife is constantly spouting out the virtues of HHN to everyone. HOPEFULLY, they will enjoy themselves.

We already warned my sis about the crowds and the fact that the event is NOT RECOMMENDED FOR ANYONE UNDER 13. But she assures me it will be fine. Ok, whatever sis. We'll just lose you in the nearest batch of fog.

Hopefully this will workout... I already told my sister, if she holds us up, she is on her own! Sorry, but HHN madness knows no mercy. Especially when you don't have EPs for 10-8 (of course I have EPs for Saturday night 10-7:>). Usually trips with a lot of family members going, can be a huge PITA (we just took a big multi-family trip to Disney/Uni in May). But, I already drew a line in the sand by staying on-site, far, far away from whatever off-site hotel they are staying at. Hopefully that will give us so autonomy to relax and follow our own sked a bit.

Anyway, it's going to a busy couple of days getting ready (why does a 3-day trip take 4 months of prep., 2 days of packing and so much anxiety to get everything done?), and the debut of season 3 of Battlestar Galactica is on Friday night from 9-11. Ugh, I'm gonna be so tired when I have to get up at 3am to get our flight. I should really start banking some sleep now. I wish it worked like that....

That's all for now folks. I'll be back!

 

[highlander447]

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip

 

[lorax123]

Well, it's Friday! YEAH! I made it through this horribly long and tiring week! I never thought this day would come. I was checking out my vacation count down stickey, which is posted on my monitor. My god, I started that thing 45 days ago. I really have no idea how I was able to survive that long.

I really have no idea how I survived last night at work. DW and I left the office together at 12:30 am. She only had to work 8 hours to get her 30 hours in for the week, so she got to leave early. I had to put in a 13 hour day, to get up to 40 hours, so I had a lot of ground to make up.

And I had no motivation to do anything! I considered taking a nap... but my desk chair is so uncomfortable.

Well, so far things aren't going well. DD came down with chicken pox on Tuesday. Even though she was innoculated, there is a 1 in 10 chance of getting it. So, she was the 1 out of 10. Hasn't bothered her one bit tho. Benadryl really does wonders (and makes her drowsy, which is kind of nice:>).

Woke up this morning to check email and received an email alert that our flight time has changed. UH-OH... Ok the flight has been pushed back to 7:15am, from a 7am departure, and the return flight is pushed back 5 minutes. Nothing to get upset about. Shewwww....

The only problem with weekend trips... if something goes awry, there is no time left in the vacation schedule to make it up. I wish we had another day. But wish in one hand.... I'm sure you know the saying.

Printed out our boarding passes and checked in. Woo hoo. Almost there! Can't wait. I hope it's hot, humid and sunny in Orlando. 'Cause today it's cold, wet and miserable in PA. I miss summer.

 

[lorax123]

Well. Back... Ugh. Great trip tho! HHN this year was the best yet! Details to follow!

 

[Fan2CSkr]

Looking forward to hearing all about it! I will be heading there for my long weekend on Friday and can't wait!

 

[lorax123]

Allright.... the LONG trip report for our SHORT HHN getaway!

DAY 1:

Friday night, dropped of DD at the in-laws, got her to sleep by 9pm, went home, watched 2 hour the season opener of Battlestar (a Universal show BTW:>) while wifey tried to go to sleep. Of course the season opener was frakking spectacular! So, I was pumped up from that. I finally managed to fall asleep around 11:30. Woke up only once, around 1am, scarred silly that we overslept and missed our flight. Finally the alarm went off at 3, I bolted from bed, we got ourselves together and made the 45 minute trek to Philly.

Father-in-law dropped us off at departure, showed the Skycap our boarding passes and only had to wait 20 minutes to get through security. Not to bad!
Of course our flight was full, so we were shoehorned into the 737. I'm so glad it's only a 2 hour flight!
Two restless, anxious, hours later, we hit the pavement! In one piece too! Woo-hoo! 9:30 am and we are in Orlando!
I really don't hate flying. I just hate the whole process of check-in, security, hurry-up and wait.... ugh.

DW hits the bathroom and grabs a Starbuck coffee (which acutally costs more than the coffee at RPR, that's amazing!) By the time she gets down to baggage claim, I already have our bags, met up with my dad and his girlfriend, and I'm impatiently waiting for DW (I really can't wait to get to the park)!
After getting dropped off at RPR, checking-in, we check-out our room (yep, we were able to get into our room before 10:30), change out of our cold weather gear, we go to meet up with my pop at IOA.

11 am! We are lined up at the turnstiles, the POE music always gives me goosebumps despite the rather warm temps. Such a happy feeling!
I'm always amazed how I can wake up in PA and in just a few hours be 1000 miles away! For the first few hours I feel like I'm sleeping walking and it's all a dream.

Anyways... First things first, hit the new Trolley ride! It's cool! Nothing spectacular, but a nice finishing touch to SL. We still remember the coming in 2001 signs they had posted at the rides entrance wayyyyy back in 2000. So, it's great to see the ride finished.
Basically, it's the typically IOA day. We hit nearly everything before heading over to US at 4. The crowds were a little heavier than I expected. But, we had FOTL. So, no big deal! I really didn't pay attention, but I think most of the waits were in the 25-45 minute range.

At US, I make it our mission to get in one last ride on BTTF! All goes well, the ride runs perfectly (and dare I say even somewhat smooth? That's a shocker!). I'll miss this ride. It was my first ride at UO. Sniff... I remember being so amazed by it back in 2000. I had never seen ANYTHING like it in my entire life (yes I was nearly 30 before I went to my first themepark).

I remember naively thinking to myself, after my first day at Uni, "WOW! If Universal is this great, gosh darn, Disney world will be AWESOME!" Gosh, I was so wrong. But, then again, I wasn't even going to go to IOA. I really thought that was going to be lame... yeah after spending 40+ days at IOA over the past 6 years... It must really suck. I'm such a DA.

Well, 5pm! Time for HHN! The S&S coral crowd was pretty light. Uni did send up some stilt actors (I love the big skeleton guy), chainsaw weilding maniacs and zombies on choppers to enterain us. I decide to avoid alcohol tonight, the whole lack of sleep thing... might not be a good idea to drink. DW and I formulated a plan and told pop and his GF to stick with us. It will get ugly.

6pm, the gates open and 90% of the crowd goes... right? Huh? Everone seemed to head over to RUN. Oh well, stay with the plan and go to Screamhouse.

SCREAMHOUSE: Holy cow. Screamhouse was awesome. No waiting, the scareactors we're doing incredible jobs, the house was immaculately detailed... an A+ house!
Dare I say it was better than HHN13's SH?
We did come back to SH later and used our EPs (60 minute wait) to make a second pass. WOW! It was even better the 2nd time! And it was after 10pm at this point.

DIE-IN. No wait! The Director is my favorite mascot. Scareactors, again, did an incredible job! They got our group just about every turn! Overall an A house. The 2nd time through (with EPs, stand-by 60 minutes), we were pretty tired and, (RANT HERE) the party behind us had to give a running commentary throughout the house. "Oh that's Scream. There's Pinhead!" and other odd ball comments. Please shut the heck-up! I think they scared off the scareactors. We didn't get too many scares this time around.

PSYCHOSCAREPY. A good renewal of an old favorite. The first time through (no wait), I'd give it a B, but the 2nd time (used EPs, 45 minute stand-by), it was an A house. Of course I still love the 'crappy' bathroom. Yes, I do like potty humor.

RUN: HEE-HEE. No wait. Just a fun house. A bunch of really cool scenes and some great scareactors. A solid B house all night. Maybe even an A- the first time through. The 2nd time had a 45 minute stand-by wait.

Dungeon of Terror: None of us cared for this house. Only went through once, early in the night, 5 minute wait. DW asked later "What was that house about?" No one else wanted to go through again later. So, a C. (Don't worry, Sunday night, this house totally redeemed itself!)

PUTS: Oh god... I really was hoping this would be as great as Terror Mines (I loved that house!) I was really disappointed. We only got through once, while it was still light, and had to use our EPs to do it. Barely any scares. And it seemed really bright. (this house redeemed itself Sunday too!) D... Sorry

PSYCHOPATH: Another fun house. Used EPs, becuase the line was up to 45 minutes. I always like the funhouse type houses. I almost fell over in the Vortex, loved the eyeball room. Got a few good scares. Unfortunately, it was the only house I didn't get to repeat all weekend. Solid B+.

Bill and Ted: we got into the 2nd B&T show Saturday (and we were able to avoid the rain!). As always, limited plot, lots of loud music and explosions, scantily clad women, raunchy jokes and dance numbers for no reason. The whole group liked it and gave it an A.

HHN 360: Haven't seen the 360 show before this. I was disappointed. It was ok... I just expected more of a finale and some more fireworks. A nice diversion tho. C+

Scarezones: Harvest of souls and Blood Masquerade rocked! Scares and laughs in both of them! I just wish they were longer! Didn't really spend too much time at Deadtropolis. So I can't give that a grade. But the other 2 zones get an A+.

Arrival: didn't watch it this night. Saving it for Sunday.

Overall: The event deserved an A+. We were all dead tired. DW and I were going on 22 hours with only 4 hours of sleep. If we were better rested, I'm sure we could have done more. My dad and his GF had a great 1st HHN (hopefully they'll go back again!). By 11pm, the crowds and rowdy drunks were getting on our nerves though. I really hate the idiots who come to HHN and try to be BAs in the houses. Why? Seriously. The point of going to HHN is to try and get scared, not try and scare and intimidate the SAs! Plus, shut-up if you see or think you know where the SA's are. I don't want, or need, a commentary.

But I have to say, it was great having the event back at US. While I do love IOAs atmosphere (POE, JP & LC make for great HHN atmosphere), US's layout is so very convient. It seemed like we were always ahead of the crowds, and near the shows when they started. It just seemed so much easier to get around. And the layout of the exits and entrances to the soundstage houses was a lot better than the previous years.

By the end of night, 16 was on par with HHN, our previous favorite, HHN 13.

 

[RadioFanatic]

great report! We went 10/6 and the express passes are worth their weight in gold! We also didn't drink and it was amazing the goofballs who were wasted and there was liquor every two steps, even in lines to wait to get to a haunted house? why don't they do that with regular drinks sans alcohol on hot days waiting for rides? There appeared to be a ton of cops out too. Also, Jaws at night was a blast. This was our second year in a row to do HHN and will never miss it - it was a blast!

 

[Minniespal]

Looking forward to rading more

 

[lorax123]

Thanks! Here's day 2... It's long. I don't know when to shut-up! Sorry

Day 2: Yes I'm still going....

After getting back to RPR at 1am, we decided to sleep in a little. We got up at 8am. Ok, that's really not sleeping in. But, we have a lot to do today!
I remember trying to find the snooze and off button on the alarm clock at 6:50. I was unsuccessful. I contemplated ripping it out of the wall and throwing it... but that may incur additional charges. If Lowes wants $6 for bottled water, an alarm clock would probably be a hundred bucks! I can't imagine what they want to patch drywall. So, I found the volume button and grabbed some more Z's.

Got ourselves together and made it to IOA by 9:30. Not too shabby! Felt horrible tho. Still tired and our allergy problems didn't subside. Wish we brought the Claritin.

Had a light breakfast at Croissant Moon, then hit SL for a nice slow wake-up.

We backtracked to Marvel and DW was still in a funk. I felt better by this point... for now. While I was off riding the Hulk, DW got a phone call. OH-NO! DS was going to drop off her 2 teens and the 10 year old cousin. Oh no. It really did turn into a fiasco. By the time they got there, we wasted a lot of our morning. And really, couldn't do anything with them. We had FOTL and the didn't and the lines were pretty, pretty long this day. Besides, we had a date at Mythos for lunch. The kids had no money and we couldn't afford to feed 5 people. So, told DS the kids will be on there own! Hey, they are 16, 13 and 10. I'm sure they will be fine... Ok. It wasn't nice, but we were pretty aggravated. My 16 y.o. nephew was acting like a DA anyway. He was constantly on the phone with his GF the whole trip... give it a rest kids! Take a break and have some fun.

Really didn't get much done at IOA today, hit Marvel, SL, and LC. Determined that Ice really is the better dragon, DW made up her mind that she likes Ice more than the Hulk. Blasphemy! Had a wonderful lunch at Mythos. The risotto of the day was great (scallops), but I was disappointed with the new desserts! They were good, but so generic. We saw them drag out the same dessert tray at Finnagans later that day. Common! Bring back the Gooey Banana cake and tasting of chocolate! Seems like the Mythos menu is being dumbed down. How depressing.

Unfortunately, we had the bright idea that we would have enough time to go back to RPR to relax after lunch. NOT. So at 3pm, ran back to the hotel, grabbed that nights HHN tickets, freshened up and changed. We made it over to US by 4pm. Got a locker, and rode the Mummy a few times. Hey, I hate to abuse FOTL. But the wait was only 30 minutes, and if I have to go through the hassle of getting a locker, I at least want to make it worthwhile (crappy justification for a sense of entitlement?). My poor cell phone paid the price. I left it in my pocket and somehow the LCD screen was busted when i checked it after the 2nd ride.

We made the mistake of deciding to get a light bite to eat. we figured hey... 30 minutes 'till the park closes and we want to be ready for HHN. Let's eat something now, so we aren't hungry at 7. Tried to get pizza, but that was closed... Tried to get coffee, but Starbucks was closed...(still was only 4:30) said oh well, and decided to get a a table at Finnegans. That's still open and wasn't crowded, yet. BUT... (RANT inserted here) we got a table quickly, but it took over 30 minutes to get service. Apparently the shift change was occuring. So, we sat and sat and sat.... we considered leaving... but then what could we do? Wait outside? Finally our waitress shows up. Not the staffs fault. I blame management! They know hundreds (if not thousands) of guest will be in the park waiting for HHN. Shouldn't you take that into consideration when making up the schedules? We really wanted nothing more than a decent snack and a few drinks A few people actually arrived 15 minutes after we sat down, got tables, server and served before we got out server. A little crazy.

So, after a few drinks and splitting some food, we found the rest of the family and the 10 of us waited at the railings for the park to open. There were a lot more people in tonights S&S compared to last night. Odd. At 6, the gate keepers opened the fence and let us out. WOOHOO! Everyone made tracks to the soundstage houses and we got in line for Screamhouse and waited another 15 minutes for the houses to open. HUH!?!?!?

Seemed very odd that they didn't already have the houses open like last night. I swear it looked like the main entrance to the park was already opened by the time the SS houses were opened. I saw a huge mob rushing towards Hollywood Blvd.. I guess all our planing for tonight was going to be thrown out the window.

Anyway, SH tonight was an abosolute blast! DW and my 13 yo niece took the front and led us into the house. Those 2 made a great pair, they screamed and they screamed some more. And the more they screamed the more the SA's went after our party. Absolutely fabulous!

Next we hit Die-IN, no wait at all yet. Another winner! DW, niece and sister were getting it bad. It was hilarious. Everybody else got a few good scares, The SA's really seemed to be zeroing in on us. Awesome.

Left Die-IN, somehow lost everybody else, so now it was just the DW, niece, her 10 y.o. cousin and me. We went over to Psychoscerapy and it showed a 0 minute wait. Apparently the wait board was broken. The CM was hawking that it was actually 60 minutes... No time for that kinda wait! Lets go hit RUN!

Ran up to RUN, 5 minutes showing on the board! Cool. Except... the 10 yo was bugging to stop and play the carny games the entire way over... How did we get stuck with him? I only met this kid 45 minutes ago. Ugh. Flat out told him no.THEN, as soon as we get into the Run Q, he starts in with "I don't wanna go in..." Sorry, but TOUGH. Somehow you are stuck with us. You are going! Besides he was fine in the last 2 houses. Ugh...

RUN. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Not as good as the last 2 houses tonight. But we got plenty of scares and the girls were running out of the house, being chased by SA's.

We made tracks to Dungeon of Terror... Somehow found the rest of the group. Yeah! They actually just came out of Run too. My big sister was terrified apparently. After that, she didn't do anymore houses. Nice. We split up, me, DW and the niece team up, while the others go see B&T.

DUNGEON. Late night this house wasn't anything to write home about, but tonight, totally different story. DW and niece lead the way, screaming the entire time. Then near the end some girl with a chainsaw targets them and they go running out of the house screaming. Freakin' cool! Tonight lot's of scares and fun in this house.

We check out the waits for PUTs and PSYCHOPATH. UGh, over 60 minutes already. I suggest we head back to the SS's and take in those houses again, before the crowd hits.

Got back to SH, at it was advertising a 15 minute wait. Oh what a lie... 40 minutes later... Finally got back into SH. This run through the house was even better than the last time! Wow! DW and niece are screaming like nuts through out the house. At the end of the house there was a back-up and the line stopped. 2 SA's jump out at them, they start screaming, then a 3rd SA jumps into the action. They are going crazy, they fall down and the SA's keep coming back. Hysterical! What a blast!

We see the line for Die-IN is showing 15 minutes, so... should we believe it? Whatever, I drag the two of them into line and we only wait 10 minutes! Yeah! Another blast! The screaming, the scares, the running, the laughing! Awesome. Better than the last 3 times. I felt bad for the older gent in front of us, having to put up with all the high-pitched screaming. At the end of the house, he turns around, laughing, and tells the girls he wants to go through the rest of the houses with them. I guess he didn't mind.

We still hadn't done PS, and now it was showing a 40 minute wait. I convince the girls to just do it. We waited 40 minutes for another house, what's another 40 minute wait? Besides the little one hasn't smelled the bathroom yet. Waited 35 minutes... and guess what. Another winner! God, tonight, so far, was the best HHN we had ever been to.

Now, the ladies were tired and needed a break, so we got a drink and decided to run through Blood Masquerade and go check out the Arrival. For our group Blood was fantastic. Short, but we were being targeted by every SA. The girls were screaming, and I was laughing, then the SAs would hit me. Nice. a lot of fun. We hit this zone 2 more times that night, each time just as good as the first.

Waited for the Arrival, didn't wait long. Cool little show. I loved Jacks blender the most. Fun to watch!

Since we were close, we decided to walk through HOS. We all really liked this zone. Nice props, cool lighting and lots of fog. The scarecrow guys were very cool. Laughed and screamed the entire way through, then turned around to do it again. Went through this zone a couple more times before the night ended.

Now we decided we need a snack. Time for candy! Walked down Hollywood Blvd, got a few good scares that we weren't expecting. Grabbed some gummies and candy apples, found a bench and parked our butts for awhile. The rest of the party joined us, and half decided to call it a night (it was 10pm) and the rest of us decided to hang some more. At least until 11! Common, can't wuss out and leave now! So now it's my Dad, his GF, Sister, DW and niece.

We all head up to MIB, through Blood and HOS, good scares! Saw a fist fight or two, then took turns riding singles through MIB so we wouldn't need a locker. No spectacular scores this trip. Ugh, I really sucked in fact. DW managed to kick my butt almost everytime. My best was a score of 400k, which the 'tourists' are just amazed at. But it's a long ways off of actually being a good score or even my personal best. It's always funny listening to them brag to their friends how they kicked their butts, and they have these really small, pathetic scores that only top 100k if they get the bonus.

Anway, the line for PUTS was only 20 minutes. DW really wasn't interested, but PP was 30 minutes... I drag her and the niece to PUTS, just to see if it can make any improvement over last night.

HOLY CRAP. PUTS kicked butt tonight! The niece got the helmet, i followed her and, wow, the SA's had a field day! Despite being tired DW and the niece were screaming their butts off and I was getting a few good scares too. What a drastic improvement! Do not go into this until well after dark! A lot of fun. And watch out for the porta-potty near the entrance. That was really gross. But funny.

It was 11:35 now and DW and niece just didn't want to stand in another line. I couldn't convince them to do PP.... I even laid the guilt trip on DW. "You know, next week you are going to wish you were back in FL, at HHN and here's your last chance at it and you want to pass it?" Didn't work. So sad. We only went through the house one time.

So, we gather the group and make for the exit. But I suggest, we take a short-cut through Deadtropolis. We really didn't get to spend time in that scare zone. We really need to do it once. Made our way over, nice props, had some fun with the zombies, gawked at the scantily dressed women, but no scares! I point to the alley between the buildings and we walk down it. Meet a nice zombie chomping away at a finger. Yummy. While gawking at him another zombie jumps out, scare sthe crap out of us. We make for the exit, another zombie scares my niece and another zombie dives at her and send her running. Awesome! Wish we had more time to spend there!

We make for the exit, wave goodbye to everyone as we get in-line for our water taxi (see I told you to stay on-site!) and it pulls up a few minutes later. Great timing!

Anyway, what a day! Another 13-14 hour day at the park walking around! HHN tonight was SPECTACULAR! A few minor problems, but the event was just fabulous tonight. DW and I both agree, this was our favorite year. 13 is now 2nd. It was alot of fun bringing new people to the event, my niece was great fun. DW told me tonight, we should bring her next year. We will see. Who knows if we'd even make it next year? But everybody had a blast.

It was nice bringing it back to Studios this year, the event was really well laid out. But I did miss the themeing of IOA. JP, POE, LC and MSI make great backdrops and have awesome atmosphere. I really hope they switch venues ever few years, just to keep it fresh. Overall the crowds weren't bad. Sunday night was a lot more manageable, but Saturday went well with the EPs. But, by the end of our Sat. night adventure, we were tired and getting annoyed by the drunks.

Final grades:
Event: A+
Screamhouse: A+ and our favorite
DIE-IN, PS, RUN: A
PUTS, DofT, PP: A- to B+ (after Sunday night, every house was a winner and pretty much all tied for 2nd place for our favorites)
Harvest of Souls: A+ (our Favorite)
Blood: A
Deadtropolis: B (didn't spend too much time there, and it was always very crowded)
B&T: A
Arrival: A
HHN 360: C, maybe a B-, needs more work, but an allright distraction, once you've done everything else.