Official 2018 HHN-28 Thread

[SgtTibbs]

How does HHN effect City Walk? Is it more crowded with people that are not doing HHN, or less crowded because people are doing HHN?

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I know that I'm a bit behind now...but I'm going to be disappointed if there is not a scene in the Halloween 4 house where a bunch of rednecks shoot up a park gazebo. We're just now watching it for the first time.

I haven't looked up spoiler footage of the houses.

 

[patster734]

thanks - just wondering - did you do Poltergeist while it was still light out? I did one of the houses very early in the day last year (scarecrow maybe) and i could not see anything as my eyes were not adjusted - I did the same house another night and could see and it was very good - so sounds like I want to keep that in mind

I experienced the same thing with Dead Exposure on Friday. On my first pass, it was light out, and I couldn’t see anything between light flashes in the house. The second time through, although it was still difficult to see in the darkness, there was improvement.

Maybe that was it. But the house itself does not start out dark. And I will say that even by the end of the house it was still dark. May try it when it is dark out. Thanks!

Still looking for advice on the last two houses we need to hit - stranger things and blumhouse. Which one first?

I liked Stranger Things better than Blumhouse, but then I’ve watched both seasons.

Stay and Scream question for you veterans: We are coming from out-of-town and going on Friday October 19th (no other option but that night). We have Express passes but have never done the Stay and Scream option. I know they let you out to different houses depending on which holding area you are in. Can you use the Express Pass at that point? Or is it better to save it in case you want to go back? We are trying to get through all 10 houses and we only have this one night to attend HHN.

You can use your Express Pass anytime. I saw people use it during the AP early release last Friday. If you plan to stay all night until the park closes, I’d save using Express Pass until later so that you can repeat some houses.

Last Friday, also using the AP early release, my first 4 houses were without Express. It was 8:30pm when I finally began using my Express Pass, and that was for Stranger Things. Because I didn’t use Express initially, I was able to repeat three of those first 4 houses later with it, in addition to seeing the remaining 6 houses.

 

[jlay68]

Thank you!!

 

[macraven]

I always get the ep

It’s like having car insurance
It costs a lot but when you need to use it (put a claim in). you are glad you have it

I would not deal well spending an hour + of time in a house line

I do stay and scream holding areas and get two houses done early
Then I pick and choose which house to hit
Usually the short line houses before I use my ep

By 8:30 for weekends, I start using my ep
Wednesday usually start using the ep much later

 

[imprint]

Android

The app on my iPhone has been showing the house wait times, but then again that might not have anything to do with it. Just a thought.

 

[imprint]

We booked our first Unmasking the Horror tour this year. We just got the morning tour. If anyone has done, or will do, the morning-only tour, would you please post the houses? I assume the houses remain the same, but let me know if they might change. I saw on another site that someone toured Stranger Things, Carnival Graveyard, and Scary Tales during the morning tour. I'd feel more confident about the info if it came from a screen name I trust, though.

 

[tony67]

been watching a few more vlogs - one of them went on the media tour (or not sure I trust their opinions as they want to be invited back) but it was cool to watch the guides describe each house before they went in - be aware they were allowed to film in the houses so you may want to fast forward through that - he did point out that at open with just the folk from Finnegan's the wait was 60 minutes for Stranger things and Poltergeist

Another vlogger was focusing on the wait times - 150 minutes for stranger things and he waited an hour in express - he will be back Wednesday so will be interested to see if it is a bit slower - he seemed to really like most of the houses - some of the best ever

that $30 cup seems like a great deal if your going multiple nights - does anyone know if they have just filtered water or soda water - I dont drink soda for the most part - but the small cups of free water are a pain

 

[macraven]

How does HHN effect City Walk? Is it more crowded with people that are not doing HHN, or less crowded because people are doing HHN?

Many grab food at city walk before they enter the park
And quite a few will eat at 4ish so they can be in the park prior to 5

But The eateries are not full up at those times

At closing time for hhn, some hang out in city walk so the cars clear out of the garage somewhat

City walk closes at 2:00 but some places such as HRC close at midnight

Check the Citywalk.com to see what is open at midnight in advance

Saturdays are busy nights did Citywalk

 

[SgtTibbs]

Many grab food at city walk before they enter the park
And quite a few will eat at 4ish so they can be in the park prior to 5

But The eateries are not full up at those times

At closing time for hhn, some hang out in city walk so the cars clear out of the garage somewhat

It’s walk closes at 2:00 but some places such as HRC close at midnight

Check the Citywalk.com to see what is open at midnight in advance

Saturdays are busy nights did Citywalk

The more I think about it, the more I'm planning to skip HHN. As a solo non-drinker who's not a huge horror fan I think I'll just save the $$$ hang out in City Walk or perhaps *gasp* retire early for a good nights sleep. Hopefully once HHN is in full swing City Walk won't be too busy.

 

[slford00]

Thanks for the updates. Not thrilled to read confirmation it’s going to be crazy busier this year.

Conversely, reading the length of EP return times has be mess inclined to purchase it, seems devalued for shorter stays.

Carole special thanks re the mini house reviews. May set up a thread with template for others to cut/paste reviews.

Interesting reading finnegans getting released to ST first vs hello kitty holding area. Finnegans may find themselves in the position this year of adhering to fire code occupancy

Opening night was insanely busy (and brutal HOT), but already by the 2nd night on Saturday it was much, much better. We didn't go Sunday, which is usually even less crowded, but we'll be back next weekend on Sunday to see (we live in Tampa).

So, I wouldn't necessarily take the insane rush on opening (buzz from opening + Stranger Things buzz) to mean that the entire event is going to be miserably busy.

 

[slford00]

We booked our first Unmasking the Horror tour this year. We just got the morning tour. If anyone has done, or will do, the morning-only tour, would you please post the houses? I assume the houses remain the same, but let me know if they might change. I saw on another site that someone toured Stranger Things, Carnival Graveyard, and Scary Tales during the morning tour. I'd feel more confident about the info if it came from a screen name I trust, though.

I'm not 100% positive, but I believe the houses do actually rotate from day to day and morning/afternoon (not always the same 3-6 houses on the tour).

 

[slford00]

Back home in Tampa after HHN opening Friday/Saturday night.

*Opening weekend thoughts*

- Opening night was crazy busy. The busiest I've ever seen HHN in 6 years. The Stranger Things effect is real. It also didn't help that it was miserably hot (much moreso than I remember from the same weekend the last 2 years)

- By 2nd night, the crowds were MUCH more reasonable. Still busy, but nothing compared to the madhouse on Friday. Plus, it rained that afternoon so it was much more comfortable and not brutal hot.

- If doing annual passholder early entry vs. Finnegan's stay and scream, Finnegan's is absolutely the way to go (more on this in a future post).

- If using Express, as others mentioned above, the merge point for Seeds of Extinction is AWFUL. Unless the wait is REALLY long, 1/2 of more of the wait is after the merge point (we waited 25 minutes with Express when the total wait was listed as 45 minutes)

 

[slford00]

Initial house and scarezone impressions/rankings (Spoiler Free):

Houses:
**1st tier - very little separation between 1-4**
1. Slaughter Sinema - Just brilliant. #2 is scarier, but this house is so original/creative and fun that it wins overall. It does have decent scares. The facade in the queue is the best of the event, hands-down.
2. Poltergeist - Very pleasantly surprised by this house. They absolutely knocked it out of the park. Scariest house of the event. It definitely "feels" like the same vein of The Exorcist and The Shining from the last couple years, but this one is much better.
3. Trick r Treat - It was great as a scarezone and it's great as a house. Need to be a fan of the movie to really enjoy it.
4. Carnival Graveyard - 2nd best facade, elaborate set design (think Ghost Town or Dead Waters), high energy cast, some good scares. Surprisingly long.

**2nd tier**
5. Halloween 4 - Probably the weakest of the Halloween/Halloween 2/Halloween 4 trio of houses they've done since 2014, but still a good house. Myers always makes for a good house. They did a great job translating the film to a house (as they did w/ the last two), but the 2 things that held it back for me are 1) it didn't include what was by far the most intense moment of the film (rooftop), and 2) it felt a little short -- probably a result of being in the Shrek building. It was going along really great and then just kinda abruptly ended.
6. Stranger Things - The opposite of our Poltergeist experience -- we were very excited with super high expectations for this house, and it didn't quite delivery (though it has room to improve). There were reportedly a lot of technical issues with the house on opening night (audio triggers not working for characters, costumes not fitting, etc) and it felt like we missed a lot. 2nd night it was better. I think once everything gets ironed out, this could make it into the top tier of houses. I was just a little stunned at how it under-performed, especially when comparing to how Universal absolutely crushed the blockbuster American Horror Story houses the past 2 years -- I thought this would be even better as the underlying IP is better.
7. Dead Exposure - A very good house with cool effects; I just prefer the above 6.
8. Scary Tales - Same as #7. Still a good house. It's easy to miss some of the best scares in this house if you don't have the luckiest timing during your walkthrough (similar to The Fallen last year).

**1-8 were all really good houses**

9. Blumhouse 2 - Not a bad house, but not the best. Just decent. I don't understand the need to mash 2 partially-complete houses together into one house. It would've worked much better as just an entire Happy Death Day house that was fleshed out a bit more (could say the same for The First Purge, but Purge at HHN is a little worn out at this time).
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10. Seeds of Extinction. Did not like this house at all.



Scarezones:
1. Vamp '85 -- #1 with a bullet, and probably my favorite scarezone ever (already topping Trick r Treat from last year). I mean, Michael Jackson, Prince, and Freddie Mercury vampires, lol. The set pieces and background music selections are fantastic, and the "show" that kicks off each cast change is also great. The energy level among scareactors is very high in this zone -- they know how awesome it is and they are living it up.

2. Revenge of Chucky -- well done set pieces and the Chucky puppet and voice are well done. I also like the projections on the buildings and the set pieces.

3. Killer Klowns -- this may end up #2; we didn't spend as much time here. Again, the set pieces and decorations are great. Also, keep an eye out for shadow projections on the building above the scarezone -- a very neat nod to the film if you're familiar with it.

4. Twisted Tradition -- didn't find this to be scary or particularly fun either. A couple of nice costumes/decorations, and the lit pumpkins are always nice.

5. The Harvest -- as has been the trend the past few years for the entry area zone, this hardly qualifies as a scarezone.



Overall, a VERY strong year for HHN -- easily the best since HHN 25 and maybe the best we've been to (we've gone to HHN 22 and then 24-28). Really looking forward to going back several more times and seeing the houses once things are running a bit smoother (and when it isn't so HOT!).

 

[slford00]

For those wanting to do Stay & Scream:

Springfield:
- I can't comment on how the Springfield area will work, since it was used for the Annual Passholder Early Entry events. I presume it will let out to some combination of Slaughter Sinema/Dead Exposure/Blumhouse, though possibly Trick r Treat or Seeds of Extinction might open early from here as well. Other than the convenience of being in the park before opening and not messing w/ the main gate crowd, I don't know that it will save a "ton" of wait time since the waits for these houses in the back build much more slowly than the front soundstage houses.

Finnegan's:
- This holding area lets out to either Stranger Things or Poltergeist. 80-90% of the crowd (which is massive) will head to Stranger Things, the other 10-20% will head to Poltergeist.

- You have to be in before park closing (5 pm), and then they release people to line up at the 2 houses around 5:45, though the houses may not actually run until closer to 6. This provides a HUGE advantage as the main gate crowd won't be let in until ~6:15 or so (w/ official opening time of 6:30) and both of these houses may have 60+ minute waits from that point on through most of the night.

- This Stay & Scream area was MARKEDLY more full than ever before ("Stranger Things effect"). It was also much larger than before. In previous years, you were fenced in pretty much in the immediate block around Finnegan's. Now, most of the entire park area between Finnegan's and NY area/Fallon ride is part of the holding pen, and in addition to Finnegan's, there are open tent bars and food tents (Benny's Burgers and a dessert tent).

- Within the large area, they specifically have a section blocked off to go ahead and queue for when everyone is released. In the past, we've eaten dinner at Finnegan's and then drifted outside around 5:30 or so and still made it toward the front of the pack to be let out into the houses. This year, when we finished eating around that time there was already a HUGE crowd lined up. If you want to have minimal wait for Stranger Things, then probably need to head to that area and line up shortly after checking in to the area (maybe even before 5)... which kills off the best part about this Stay & Scream (the ability to unwind in the A/C at Finnegan's while waiting).

- If you want to have an actual table to have dinner at Finnegan's while waiting during Stay & Scream, you need to check in far earlier than park close at 5 pm. Our party of 2 requested a table just after 4 pm and it was a 30 minute wait to be seated, which gave us about an hour to comfortably enjoy dinner before heading outside for the release.


**For future reference for Annual Passholders**

- The "special" Annual Passholder Early Entry that Universal offers on the 1st 2 weekends for AP holders who register ahead of time is NOT worth it. We've done it the last 3 years and it's never been a great experience. Far too many people are allowed to sign up (and bring a guest), you wait in the brutal heat (mostly unshaded) from ~4-4:30 until the houses open at 5:30, and then unless you're in the first bit of that huge crowd (i.e. arrived at 4 PM and waited 90 minutes), the waits for the houses are still 25-45+ minutes. You can realistically expect to complete 2 of 3 open houses (maybe all 3 if using express or you're in the front of the crowd) by "official" opening time of 6:30.

- SO, between waiting 60+ minutes in the brutal sun to see 2-3 houses from 5:30-6:30 pm, I would MUCH more strongly recommend doing Finnegan's with A/C, being let out just 15-30 minutes later at 5:45-6, and having access to the 2 most popular houses with the longest waits of HHN.

 

[Chumpieboy]

Stay and Scream question for you veterans: We are coming from out-of-town and going on Friday October 19th (no other option but that night). We have Express passes but have never done the Stay and Scream option. I know they let you out to different houses depending on which holding area you are in. Can you use the Express Pass at that point? Or is it better to save it in case you want to go back? We are trying to get through all 10 houses and we only have this one night to attend HHN.

If you bought the HHN-specific EP you can use it at any time. But the point of the EP is to get into the houses faster than you would in the standby line. That early in the event with the S&S people as the only patrons, the wait times for the designated houses won't be bad. Check the maps ahead of time to see which houses exit near which other houses' entrances - you will vey likely be able to do multiple houses in standby then save the EP for busy houses later on, or to revisit a house a second time when the crowds build.

 

[Thiago Acquaviva]

thank you guys for these amazing reviews! it's so good to read all this information!
It's gonna be our first time and we're soooo excited (even I been SO AFRAID of all this lol)

I just have a question I wish to know.... about average wait times of the houses
can somebody list them in order by popularity (wait time)?
We have 2 nights tickets but we would like to optimize the best we can to experience everything and maybe repeat our favorites... we have tickets to the park as well so we gonna stay n scream.

 

[5lilfish]

I'll apologize in advance because I am sure that what I am going to ask is probably answered somewhere in these 55 questions...

I have RIP tickets for Oct 4 (along with my entry ticket to HHR)….no regular ticket for the parks. I was told to meet at Café La Bamba at 6:30pm and my tour is for 7pm. With these tickets, what time am I allowed to enter the park?

Thanks...
Jess

 

[houseofthrees]

**For future reference for Annual Passholders**

- The "special" Annual Passholder Early Entry that Universal offers on the 1st 2 weekends for AP holders who register ahead of time is NOT worth it. We've done it the last 3 years and it's never been a great experience. Far too many people are allowed to sign up (and bring a guest), you wait in the brutal heat (mostly unshaded) from ~4-4:30 until the houses open at 5:30, and then unless you're in the first bit of that huge crowd (i.e. arrived at 4 PM and waited 90 minutes), the waits for the houses are still 25-45+ minutes. You can realistically expect to complete 2 of 3 open houses (maybe all 3 if using express or you're in the front of the crowd) by "official" opening time of 6:30.

- SO, between waiting 60+ minutes in the brutal sun to see 2-3 houses from 5:30-6:30 pm, I would MUCH more strongly recommend doing Finnegan's with A/C, being let out just 15-30 minutes later at 5:45-6, and having access to the 2 most popular houses with the longest waits of HHN.

Agreed!! We were there opening night. We signed up for the annual passholders early entry, but ended up staying at Finnegan's and hitting Stranger Things 1st. Glad we did it that way. Pretty sure we would have just skipped Stranger Things otherwise.

 

[macraven]

I'll apologize in advance because I am sure that what I am going to ask is probably answered somewhere in these 55 questions...

I have RIP tickets for Oct 4 (along with my entry ticket to HHR)….no regular ticket for the parks. I was told to meet at Café La Bamba at 6:30pm and my tour is for 7pm. With these tickets, what time am I allowed to enter the park?

Thanks...
Jess

Park opens officially at 6:30 but many times all will be let in earlier.
I read a few blogs of outside lines entering the park around 6:15


The confimation email. when someone paid for a public tour, can be shown to get inside the park for the meet time.

Last year there was a specific line that was used for those in tours.
Contact Vip Tours and see if there will be a specific entrance line for paid tours.

When you get to LaBamba, you give your name to the TM;s in front of the building.
They will tell you the name of your tour guide and where your group is seated inside LaBamba

You will be able to get to LaBamba entering the park by 6:20
Not everyone in the group shows up early.

Your tour guide will hand out your tour lanyards and explain the evening to you during that meet up period.