Returned home yesterday from a great trip to Universal.
Highlights: Mac’s private VIP Tour, hanging out with Mac and my Sister in the parks and at
HHN, meeting keishashadow and her hubby, meeting Lynne, goofeyfigment and her hubby and meeting Ron and Jeff and having the best tour guide ever David. Meeting chs27 and her son.
Thank you Mac for all your planning and on making the tour a great one.
Schumigirl thank you for your review on HHN 27. As a seasoned attendee your perspective was much appreciated. It is so nice to hear about your take on the houses presented at HHN. I would hope that Universal reads the reviews so they can work to improve the experience every year.
This was my second year of HHN. I attended my first HHN last year and was hooked for sure.
I love all things Halloween and have been fortunate to have been able to visit some incredible haunted houses over the years. I love to decorate for Halloween and do appreciate the details.
I did Mac’s private VIP tour, did UMH tour with Mac and visited the houses about 7 times each.
I remember Mac and I having the conversation about HHN and her take on visiting the houses multiple times was absolutely correct. You are able to appreciate each houses strengths and weaknesses by visiting them multiple times.
I will preface my review with the fact that this is no way a poor reflection on any scare actor or employee of Universal. God bless them for wearing all that make up and those costumes on those hot muggy nights. I know some people will say “well they get paid for it and the houses are air conditioned” , but I think it is a labor of love for them too. Those scare actors in the houses are doing hard physical repetitive actions in heavy make up and costumes and the actors in the Scare Zones outside are wearing costumes in that muggy heat. It was hot while we were there. I can’t imagine wearing a costume in that heat. I appreciate your hard work.
Will use Schumi’s rating system example.
1. My favorite house hands down was “ The Fallen”. What sent this house over the edge for me along with the design was the fact that there were 3 technical aspects of this house that I have never scene used in a haunted house ever before. They were used fantastically. I do not want to ruin the surprise for those who have not attended yet as to the description of the creatures, but one of them will fly at you on your left side midway thru the house, one flys over head and the other appears to be falling on you. I did not see all of these on the first visit through the house. It took multiple visits to catch them all. I did the day tour (UMH) and David the tour guide pointed out the apparatus that allowed the actors to perform these feats. AWESOME. Whoever had the idea for this house is a genius. 10/10
2. “Scarecrow the Reaping”. This house had a great exterior that prepared you for the house with the actual corn stalks, windmill and creepy scarecrow. There were lots of unexpected scares and I loved the fact that the section of the house where the birds were nesting above, gave every visitor a surprise
....LOL...I love the unexpected and boy was this unexpected. 9/10
3. “Dead Waters”. From a design perspective very well done. This was one of the houses on the day tour and I was able to appreciate the attention to detail on this house. The slanted floor on the boat was a nice touch. Some nice unexpected scares. 8/10
4. “AHS”. This house was also on the day tour and I was able to appreciate the attention to some particular scene details that were missed in the evening. In the Asylum Christmas scene the patients have decorated the tree with things that were on hand ie. IV bags and tubing, teeth etc. oh and a fellow that comes around only once per year and is known to be jolly came out from behind a mirrored wall and caught me off guard and scared me...LOL. I also saw a couple of things that were added to Roanoke section after I had been through it a couple times. 7/10
5. “ The Shining” It was a struggle between the Hive and The Shining for 5th place for me. I love Vampires, but hand to hand it to “The Shining” on the nice climate effect leading into the “The Shining” was a great touch. The Danny boy thing was a bit overdone though. This house was also on the day tour. Appreciated some very nice details in the house. 7/10
6. “The Hive” again I love vampires. There were some nice scares. This was a house on the day tour and I was able to appreciate some aspects of the house again not noticed going through it during the evening. This house seemed to improve each time I went through it. 6/10
7. “Blume House” in all fairness have not seen movies affiliated with this house. Was on the day tour. Some nice details, a few scares. 4/10
8. “Ash vs Evil Dead. Did not see movies affiliated with this house. There was something in this house that started a good laugh between myself, Lynne and my sister towards the end of the house. I think it was partly because it truly was funny and it was hot and we were tired...LOL....No stand out scares 3/10
9. “Saw” the only thing I found interesting in this house is that there are a few interactive buttons on the wall in this house. If you see a lit up red button on the wall in this house you can push it. Surprise. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn’t. 1/10
Scare Zones
1. Trick ‘r Treat what’s not to like about 450 carved lit up pumpkins in the trees and on the ground. It made for a beautiful Halloween Scare Zone. Really nice details with the scarey trick or treater’s and music. Very nicely done 10/10.
2. “Purge” this zone was one that seemed to get better every night I went thru it. The scare actors were very good. On Sunday evening Mac and I were sitting near the windows in Finnegan’s eating dinner when the folks dinning behind us started shrieking and I looked over my shoulder to see a Scare Actor pressed against the window menacing. Then 15 minutes later another one showed up. Hint: in this area if you look up at the upper building windows around the Purge Zone you would see the lights come on in various windows with different frightening scenes. My sister noticed this and pointed it out to me. Nice touch. 9/10
3. “Festival of the Deadlist” this zone improved every time I went through it. Nice touches. 8/10
4. “Alters of Horrors” this was a nice walk through. The twins from “The Shining” were a standout and did not break character for photos. 7/10
5. “Invasion” this Zone the Scare Actors must have been terribly hot in those costumes. This scare zone would have been somewhat redeemed had the alien who was performing the gory experiment on the right hand side of the crashed spacecraft been highlighted brightly enough in a glowing green light to catch your attention. 4/10
I agree with Schumigirl the Chainsaw Clowns are very much enjoyed by teens. One clown in particular who was in Cafe LaBamba on our VIP Tour night came over and kindly posed for a picture with our tour group. Thank you Mr. Clown.
Bill and Ted show and the pop culture references are really geared I think towards the younger crowds. My niece who is in her 20’s who was with me last year at HHN really liked it. I enjoyed a few laughs.
The official HHN store located in the Purge Zone was nicely decorated. Great touch.
To all the TM’s and Scare Actors thank you for a wonderful time at HHN.
Thank you to Portofino Bay Hotel staff for making our stay another memorable one. You are all awesome.
I love all things Universal.
Thank you to Mac, Shumigirl, Keishashadow, Lynne, tink1957 and all the other Sans family that keep the Universal torch shining brightly for all us fellow Universal lovers and newbies.
Looking forward to HHN 28.
colors @ 
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and yes Dark Waters was beautiful!!! 
