Official 2018 HHN-28 Thread

[imprint]

We were at hhn for the first time and we were not impressed - it was also our first u oversaw trip and was not impressed at all - it was a one and done for us

Would you mind elaborating on what you did not like? It might help other people considering a first trip to HHN and/or Universal.

 

[heidijanesmith]

Did anyone go to Howl 'O Scream in Tampa this year? If so, could you share your opinions? I know it's nothing compared to HHN, but just curious if you felt it was more "R" rated vs more kid friendly. Did they have scare zones? Were the houses themed well? I've never been and was curious. I can check what the FB crowd says, but I prefer the opinions of the folks on DIS much more!

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DD now 21 did Howl 'O Scream at Williamsburg this year. She has been to HHN x5. She knew to lower her expectations from HHN. She expected it to be similar to local Haunted Houses but with awesome scare zones.

She was very disappointed. The houses were not scary and the scare zones were not even really themed zones. She said there was very few scareactors in the houses or zones. She said it was extremely crowded and not worth the time. It is included in the your ticket price, so she said it was crowded very early on.

 

[Sehsun]

Did anyone go to Howl 'O Scream in Tampa this year? If so, could you share your opinions? I know it's nothing compared to HHN, but just curious if you felt it was more "R" rated vs more kid friendly. Did they have scare zones? Were the houses themed well? I've never been and was curious. I can check what the FB crowd says, but I prefer the opinions of the folks on DIS much more!

DH and I have been to Howl-O-Scream twice. We enjoy it for the lower crowds, and he likes the line pulsing (they send in groups at a time rather than the conga lines). I personally do not like the jump scares because the scareactors (I don't know what they call them there) all verbally yell when they jump out, and that gets my heart racing more than just silent jump scares, if that makes sense.

We like that the scareactors are spread out more throughout the park and not just confined to their scare zone. For example, often you will see them roaming before you even get in the park or after you exit the turnstiles.

If you decide to try it out, we recommend Fright Feast. It gets you the special buffet dinner (at Dragonfire Grill in Pantopia), plus 1.5 hours of front of the line access. If you finish dinner soon enough, you can have exclusive front of the line access before the event even starts.

As far as R-rated vs kid friendly, we didn't really see a difference. There was one house and scare zone (leading up to it) this past year that was recommended for ages 17 and older, and that was due to gore.

They did have scare zones. The scareactors have good hiding places. I felt that the houses were themed fine, but I personally like HHN's theming better.

 

[shh]

Thanks for sharing your experience, Sehsun. Sounds like it was a great time for you both. I could see the line pulsing as an improvement over the conga line for better immersion once you're in the house and love the idea of the scare actors spread throughout the park.

It must be tough for BG to compete with HHN on theming and set design on the houses though, given UO's massive budget and pro-level studio resources. I'd imagine BG is more fairly compared to a local/regional haunted event. HHN's theming this year really blew me away.

 

[mamapenguin]

Not sure if you noticed ahead of your visit, but the Express Pass is $79-$99 many nights if you buy it when tickets go on sale. One thing I did not like is it went up online this year as time got closer to the event. We were waiting for our work schedule and the night we wanted went up by the time we bought tickets. So I went with a cheaper night!

I guess we got lucky then 10/11 express was $99 pp day of. If it's the same next year, I will do it again. It made things so much more enjoyable, we are not long line people.

 

[mamapenguin]

People are willing to pay it - so I dont see that changing - if you wait till 10 it might be half price IF they did not sell out
At that price people might be better off with a RIP tour - but you really need to plan that in advance

I like the second idea - as it is a ridiculous walk back and forth to some of those houses - they could probably make that work for express

You can buy the after 10 pass earlier, you just can’t use it until 10. I was offered that option the afternoon that I bought our passes. I declined, because I could envision the look on my daughter’s face if I told her that we had express but had to wait in the lines until 10.