Official 2022 HHN 31 - Horror is Universal

[macraven]

Great pictures!

Yikes for the car accident but you did not let it ruin your trip

 

[buzlite]

For express pass is the best strategy to do stay and scream for Halloween? Is there a seperate stay and scream line for express pass?
I'll be their Wednesday and trying to make a plan. My only thing is I want to do the Weekend after hours when it's dark. Initially I was going to start their.

 

[schumigirl]

We went again on Wednesday October 19. We were on our way to stay and scream tonight and got T Boned by some jerk turning left onto our road during heavy traffic who simply didn't see us. Sigh. We are ok but the car got scraped up. So no HHN tonight. Maybe we'll go on Sunday.


We had wanted to get in line at stay and scream for Halloween. However, we were a bit late and didn't arrive until 4:15 and at that point Halloween already had a giant queue. We talked to the people in the front and they said the official queue started at 4.

Instead, we walked around a bit then met a friend and got in line for Hellblock's stay and scream. We were in line way earlier than we needed to be, we got in at 4:45. We were held outside the queue building until around 5 and then moved inside to wait until the house opened at 5:15. We were in within the minute.

Next we joined the stay and scream line for Coven at 5:22. The line started right at 5:30 and we were inside at 5:41.

It is possible to join the Halloween line at this point before the main gate crowd comes in, but you're still going to have a long wait. If I have to do a long wait I'd rather do that during regular party time and not during the coveted stay and scream extra time. So either be in line right at 4 for Halloween or just save the wait til later at night.

We got some food (lil boo buns and pizza skulls) and hovered at the gate to be released to the rest of the park. Almost exactly at 6 pm the gate opened and we power walked to the Weeknd. We were in line at 6:02 but it wasn't like the other night where we just walked in. Not sure if the house had opened late or if there were just more people, but we got into the house at 6:19.

We could see the line for Monsters as we exited Weeknd and we decided it was longer than we'd like so we took off for the back of the park.

At 6:34 we entered the line for Bug. We were in at 6:49. There was a lot of standing still and not moving for this one as they let hordes of Express in. I wonder if their ratio was a bit off at that time.

We could see the line for Destruction as we left Bug and it was really long so we got some more food and drinks and headed back to Monsters to wait. We got in line at 7:13 and were in at 7:48.

At that point most lines were advertised as over 60 minutes and we decided to head out around 8:30.

Couple random observations: crowds still haven't let up and it's pretty busy. Merch is still holding strong at full price other than one or two things. Lil Boo baseball hats were back in stock. The weather was actually kind of chilly and delightful. I still think this isn't the best year, but I am getting very attached to a couple houses and the graveyard scare zone.

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Glad you’re ok, that could have been so much worse for you!

Lovely pictures and great detail for folks……also like you, we loved a couple of houses and the Graveyard Scare Zone, but agree it’s not their best year by a long shot.

Hope you get to go on Sunday too.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

For express pass is the best strategy to do stay and scream for Halloween? Is there a seperate stay and scream line for express pass?
I'll be their Wednesday and trying to make a plan. My only thing is I want to do the Weekend after hours when it's dark. Initially I was going to start their.

That is a strategy, maybe not best but it's fine. Ideally you should be able to use express anytime of the night.

There's only one stay and scream line for Halloween. You'll wait in that and once you hit the line entrance you'll go in the express side. Very easy to see you can't miss it.

For you I would stay and scream hellblock. Then get in the stay and scream line for coven. Then get in line for dead man's pier which opens at 6. After that chupacabra and then use express for Halloween and it should be starting to get dark for the Weekend.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Some nights just work out perfectly....

We attended Sunday Oct 23 and I'd say we got pretty close to the perfect stay and scream.

We wanted to finally try for Halloween at stay and scream. The goal was to get in line at 4, however, traffic always sucks coming from our house and so we were late.

4:24 pm in line for stay and scream Halloween. We were in the first of the secondary queue line that stretches along the tribute store side. After we got our spot I got a turkey bun and the African lentil and potato sambusa coffin, both delicious. Also get a cake pop which was also really good.

They started to load us by degrees into the actual Halloween queue and that was very organized. The house opened at almost exactly 5:15 and we were inside at 5:30. Really, not bad.

We considered doing Coven, but I think the house opened late because it was 5:35 and their line still hadn't been loaded into the house queue, so instead we got in line for Dead Man's Pier at 5:36. The house opened up at 5:56 and we were in at 5:59. Hauntingly beautiful, as always. Though a couple notable scare actors were missing.

We could see Chupacabra's line right before we went into Dead Man's and saw it was very small, so we immediately got in line for Chuppy at 6:04. We walked right in with no wait at 6:07. We really enjoyed this walk through and decided to go around again. So we got in line at 6:13 and were in with a very short wait at 6:18. I think they had the smells of this house pumped up to 11.

We headed to Monsters next and we were in line at 6:31. Surprisingly, we walked right up and were in the house at 6:35. As we exited we saw that the Weeknd had a super short wait too. I was tempted to do Monsters again because I love it, but decided that we should try for the Weeknd. It got a bit longer in the time it took us to get there, We were in line at 6:44 and into the house at 7:04.

We could see the Monsters line was a lot longer as we left the Weeknd, so we moved on.

In line for Destruction at 7:18 and into the house at 7:25. This house is definitely growing on me.

We had one more house we wanted to do so got in line for Bug at 7:34. Took a bit longer than we'd like and we were in at 8:04. Bug is a very frustrating house to wait in the standby, it feels like they constantly move express through and barely shuffle any standby in. Ratio just seems worse than all the other houses.

At this point we felt super accomplished. In roughly 3 hours we did 8 houses. Halloween, Dead Man's, Chuppy x2, Monsters, Weeknd, Destruction and Bugs. We don't like Blumhouse so didn't care we missed it, and we've also done Coven and Hellblock a lot, especially for houses that aren't our favorites.

It was kind of weird, I don't think the dance show was running that night. They had all the floodlights on inside and sounded like they were working on something. I didn't see any times for the show in the app either. Wonder what is going on.

So we did the final goal of the night, which was to head to IOA to see the Dementors. We made it to Hogsmeade around 8:30 and the Dementors came out soon after. They are pretty fierce and fantastic. We were also able to catch the end of the castle show and then head out.

We're not doing any more HHN until the very earliest Oct 28. Excited to close out the event!

Delicious dessert:



And dessert I got at the Today cafe last time we did HHN. Made me question all my life decisions that led to this point. Did not enjoy it very much, cannot recommend.

 

[schumigirl]

Some nights just work out perfectly....

We attended Sunday Oct 23 and I'd say we got pretty close to the perfect stay and scream.

We wanted to finally try for Halloween at stay and scream. The goal was to get in line at 4, however, traffic always sucks coming from our house and so we were late.

4:24 pm in line for stay and scream Halloween. We were in the first of the secondary queue line that stretches along the tribute store side. After we got our spot I got a turkey bun and the African lentil and potato sambusa coffin, both delicious. Also get a cake pop which was also really good.

They started to load us by degrees into the actual Halloween queue and that was very organized. The house opened at almost exactly 5:15 and we were inside at 5:30. Really, not bad.

We considered doing Coven, but I think the house opened late because it was 5:35 and their line still hadn't been loaded into the house queue, so instead we got in line for Dead Man's Pier at 5:36. The house opened up at 5:56 and we were in at 5:59. Hauntingly beautiful, as always. Though a couple notable scare actors were missing.

We could see Chupacabra's line right before we went into Dead Man's and saw it was very small, so we immediately got in line for Chuppy at 6:04. We walked right in with no wait at 6:07. We really enjoyed this walk through and decided to go around again. So we got in line at 6:13 and were in with a very short wait at 6:18. I think they had the smells of this house pumped up to 11.

We headed to Monsters next and we were in line at 6:31. Surprisingly, we walked right up and were in the house at 6:35. As we exited we saw that the Weeknd had a super short wait too. I was tempted to do Monsters again because I love it, but decided that we should try for the Weeknd. It got a bit longer in the time it took us to get there, We were in line at 6:44 and into the house at 7:04.

We could see the Monsters line was a lot longer as we left the Weeknd, so we moved on.

In line for Destruction at 7:18 and into the house at 7:25. This house is definitely growing on me.

We had one more house we wanted to do so got in line for Bug at 7:34. Took a bit longer than we'd like and we were in at 8:04. Bug is a very frustrating house to wait in the standby, it feels like they constantly move express through and barely shuffle any standby in. Ratio just seems worse than all the other houses.

At this point we felt super accomplished. In roughly 3 hours we did 8 houses. Halloween, Dead Man's, Chuppy x2, Monsters, Weeknd, Destruction and Bugs. We don't like Blumhouse so didn't care we missed it, and we've also done Coven and Hellblock a lot, especially for houses that aren't our favorites.

It was kind of weird, I don't think the dance show was running that night. They had all the floodlights on inside and sounded like they were working on something. I didn't see any times for the show in the app either. Wonder what is going on.

So we did the final goal of the night, which was to head to IOA to see the Dementors. We made it to Hogsmeade around 8:30 and the Dementors came out soon after. They are pretty fierce and fantastic. We were also able to catch the end of the castle show and then head out.

We're not doing any more HHN until the very earliest Oct 28. Excited to close out the event!

Delicious dessert:

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And dessert I got at the Today cafe last time we did HHN. Made me question all my life decisions that led to this point. Did not enjoy it very much, cannot recommend.

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So happy you had such a good night!!

Your pictures are lovely and I’m glad you mentioned the desserts…..we looked at that one to try, but we are never hungry for snacks so never got around to it.

And nice job with the dementors pics!

Definitely looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the event towards the end….

 

[FoxC63]

Here now at Universal, it's a hot day! Last night the weather was awesome, visited Monster of Legends at Cabana Bay. Fun, free photo ops!
Had dinner at Bubba Gump, omg waited an hour for a Caesar salad with chicken. An hour, I kid you not! Waiter was fun but waiting that long for food, never again! We actually had three refills on beverages (soda) before we were served dinner.

 

[agavegirl1]

Here now taking a break at Cafe La Bamba. It is still 80 degrees out there at 9:23 PM.

 

[Jangles]

Anyone in Cafe Le Bamba now on an RIP tour? Come and say hello.

 

[paopiru]

The comment about no story has brought up something that I think may offer one point that could explain such differing reviews

lack of story means nothing to me in a house I would know if a house had a story if the storybook hit me over the head. Lol I barely notice anything. I’m just concerned with getting out alive. I didn’t even realize the ending changed in monsters. and obviously I scare very easily so it doesn’t take much there either. I’m sure I’m not the only one out there who doesn’t do houses for stories. So those of us are probably all very happy due to the overall quality

if that makes sense

I can relate. I was just screaming and hiding but my sons were appreciating details and storytelling…laughing at their scary mom too…

 

[Nlfm432010]

Is there a chance HHN will be open 11/1? I overheard a parking attendant tell a guest that 6 pm free parking won’t start until Wednesday due to HHN and when I checked HHN website 11/1 is on the calendar but says tickets are unavailable

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Is there a chance HHN will be open 11/1? I overheard a parking attendant tell a guest that 6 pm free parking won’t start until Wednesday due to HHN and when I checked HHN website 11/1 is on the calendar but says tickets are unavailable

I can't say with 100% certainty but I feel we would have heard something by now if that was the case. Even if it was a rumor, they would have had to have asked the cast by now and I'm sure someone would have leaked it.

 

[Nlfm432010]

I can't say with 100% certainty but I feel we would have heard something by now if that was the case. Even if it was a rumor, they would have had to have asked the cast by now and I'm sure someone would have leaked it.

Thank you that makes sense!

 

[tinkerbell1991]

Oooh, a new house has already been announced for 2023 - Chucky

 

[Nlfm432010]

I’m here now and all HHN merch is 70% off plus you can use your AP discount

 

[keishashadow]

haven’t eaten all the halloween candy and, as of 10/31/22, the first maze of HHN 32 is already out there

We’ll call it just desserts

https://twitter.com/x/status/1587187958410579969

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

And sadly the sun has set on Halloween.

We managed to make it two more times.

Sunday October 30 we did stay and scream and did:
Halloween, Dead Man's Pier, Monsters x2 and Bugs before 8.

On Halloween we did stay and scream again. We managed to get Hellblock, Dead Man's Pier, Chupacabra, Monsters, and Destruction by 7. We were starving and got pizza fries and Rueben fries.

Then we waited 40 minutes for Bug house (was still sad to see the grub was still missing, didn't see it for the last couple nights).



The whole event was much more crowded than last year on Halloween. Stay and scream was massively packed. The line for Halloween was so long they didn't let us over to the Dead Man's and Chuppy lines until 5:50.

We then met up with a friend at the Dead Coconut club and got to meet Drac, Frank and the Bride. All the lines were about an hour at this point so we just waited 50 minutes for Monsters and finished out the night with a 40 some minute wait for Dead Man's. By the time we were done with Dead Man's it was close to midnight and the lines still weren't really letting up.

We were very tired from doing stay and scream, I would have liked to stay until the end but it was still massively crowded and the lines were huge so we headed out.

I'm also glad we did our last minute shopping around 4:30 because there was a line for the tribute store for most of the night, at least that I saw. We did make out like bandits with last minute merchandise. On Sunday October 30 most items were 50% off, and on Monday they were 70%. And the AP 20% stacked on top. So the item would ring up as 50 or 70 off, then take the 20% off that price.

We got the every night is Halloween spirit jersey, the women's house shirt, a dead coconut club shirt, the Halloween leggings, two window stickie sheets and the Lil Boo pillow. Some of the Lil Boo merchandise did not go on sale, and there were some shirts that were from an outside vendor that didn't go on sale either.







My Lil Boo collection (including the styrofoam pumpkin I carved myself):

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I also kept track of all the days we attended, what houses we did, and what the wait times were. We never did have express pass, but one night we did go on a private RIP tour.

Our final count for HHN 31:

11 visits
Wednesday 2
Thursday 2
Friday 2
Sunday 4
Monday 1
Only 2 visits were not stay and scream (one of those was the RIP, the other the first re-opening date after hurricane Ian).

And the final house tally:
Monsters 13
Dead Man's Pier 11
Bug 10
The Weeknd 9
Hellblock 8
Chupacabra 7
Descendants of Destruction 7
Spirits of the Coven 7
Halloween 5
Blumhouse 2

And my final house rankings:
Monsters
Dead Man's Pier
Bug
Destruction
Weeknd
Chupacabra
Halloween
Hellblock
Spirits of the Coven
Blumhouse

Until next year (I'm still pulling for Wicked Growth 2: Revenge of Lil Boo).



















Even on the final HHN you could see Christmas starting to creep in:

 

[Mrs.AMC]

One comment regarding waits on Halloween night at least, the express line waits were EXTREMELY short.
Way less than half the stand by
That may explain why wait times were so long all night.
I was rather surprised. I expected to be in line 30 or so minutes for each house, since the stand by waits all avg'd about 60 min but we waited less than 15 every time. Now, could the wait time be off on each house? Sure. Always possible. Just find it hard to think that every house was off that much. I think they just pulled in more EP line but just my opinion.
Only thing I regretted for Halloween night was we didn't make it back there to see Nightmare Fuel. We dilly-dallied at the front of the park too long and by the time we made it back to that area it was the final show and it was jam packed.

We ended up skipping Destruction and Bugs. We grabbed something to eat and walked over to have a seat to eat it and by the time we got ready to get up and move again, we didn't feel like back tracking. Plus, DH really hated the Bugs house.

We went back to the parks yesterday before heading to the airport and they'd already started taking down quite a lot of the stuff. I figured most would wait till last night simply because of time. So little time to work after closing at 2AM. But they made decent progress all things considered.

I didn't do any research to see which house won or got best house or whathaveyou but it did seem like most houses had way more action in them Halloween night. I know I felt like I got way more scares. I think Dead Man's Pier still makes the top of my list but really hard to pick. Seems each time I go through I like a different one more.

 

[keishashadow]

Monsters turned out to get the most votes.

The nights we did use express, often it was 1/3rd the stated stand by time if not more

Could be the luck of the draw over two different trips (one 3rd week of September, the other mid October) it did seem as standby wait times were understated up to the 2nd hour of main gate release Conversely, the exact opposite the last 1-1/2 hours, overstated.