Questions about HHN 2010

[lisareneeo]

I have lots of questions (sorry)

My son will be 14 in March and really wants to go to Universal Horror Nights.
Do you think this is too young? We were at Universal last year (2008) in Oct and thought he was too young then (only 12) and we was rather scared when we just walked by to go to City Walk and he would see "Bloody Mary" on the big screen. Opinions on scare factor for a 14 year old (who says he can handle it....)


Another question. We were staying at the Hard Rock and had front of the line passes for rides because of staying on resort property. Will we still get front of the line at HHN?

How does HHN work? Are all of the rides closed and just different haunted houses?

Plan on staying at the Hard Rock again,
Thanks for your help.
Lisa

 

[Metro West]

I have lots of questions (sorry)

My son will be 14 in March and really wants to go to Universal Horror Nights.
Do you think this is too young? We were at Universal last year (2008) in Oct and thought he was too young then (only 12) and we was rather scared when we just walked by to go to City Walk and he would see "Bloody Mary" on the big screen. Opinions on scare factor for a 14 year old (who says he can handle it....)


Another question. We were staying at the Hard Rock and had front of the line passes for rides because of staying on resort property. Will we still get front of the line at HHN?

How does HHN work? Are all of the rides closed and just different haunted houses?

Plan on staying at the Hard Rock again,
Thanks for your help.
Lisa

If your son thinks he can handle it...he should be fine. I think 14 is a good age to go. HHN is a hard ticket event meaning everyone must have a ticket for admission and your onsite privileges do not apply to HHN. HHN usually starts around 6:30pm and since the park closes at 5pm, they will usually do a sweep to make sure all the day guests are either leaving the park or heading to the Stay & Scream area. Since you are staying onsite, you should plan on being in the park prior to closing so you can take advantage of S & S which will allow you to stay in the park while HHN is being set up and you'll get a jump on the lines.

HHN is a fun experience and shouldn't be missed. There are haunted houses, scarezones, shows and some of the attractions are open during the event. Which ones depends on where the houses are located and if the queue area will be closed.

If you have any other questions, fire away!

 

[thumbalyna]

i took my daughter for the first time in 2007 and she was 13 and then we went again in 2008 and she was fine, now her friend met us there last year and didnt really like it, they went on the rides but her friend wouldnt go into any of the houses. my daughter was upset that we couldnt go this year but we will be there in 2010 - i think it all depends on the individual child, my daughter has gone to haunted houses and hayrides around our home and pretty much knows its their job to try and scare her. i have seen children younger than her at HHN on several different occasions - you may want to start out with a classic horror movie to see how he reacts to the characters on screen.

 

[Metro West]

i have seen children younger than her at HHN on several different occasions

When I see young children at HHN, it really irritates me. I saw a couple pushing two kids in a stroller on opening night! That's WAY too young to be at HHN...IMHO.

 

[thumbalyna]

now that is way too young. i think depending on the child between 10 and 11 could be a good starting age. i have a friend who has 7 year old twins who love horror movies but they dont want to take the kids down until they are at least 10 do to the extreme immersion of horror and because it seems to be geared more towards adults. my daughter will be 16 in 2010 when we go and she cant wait all she talks about is the fact she will be there for the 20th anniversary. the first year she went we kinda of made a game out of it so she didnt get too scared (there was a huge group of us since i have friends who live in orlando) and the only time she got really scared was in freddy's house but that was because when we first walked in the house she said "whats that" i said a little girl and then from the closet a man said and a "freddy" so i repeated that to her and he still jumped out and she screamed and it seemed like every freddy in the house after that was out to get her, they even chased her out of the kitchen at the end and down the road, it was hysterical to watch, we still talk about that incident to this day. rofl

 

[donaldduck352]

When I see young children at HHN, it really irritates me. I saw a couple pushing two kids in a stroller on opening night! That's WAY too young to be at HHN...IMHO.

I have seen this alsn opening night there was A toddler(in diapers)screaming from the noise at Bill&Teds!

Now that my DS is 16 I have taken him for the past 3yrs. Nothing scares him at all. Darn TV's these days got teenagers desenceitize(sp)!!!

 

[lisareneeo]

usually, how long are the lines? Can you get to all of the houses in one night?

What are the scream and scare areas?

Thanks again for all of your help.
Lisa

 

[Metro West]

usually, how long are the lines? Can you get to all of the houses in one night?

What are the scream and scare areas?

Thanks again for all of your help.
Lisa

It's difficult to do all the houses in one night w/o purchasing the Express pass which can be expensive although some people will tell you it's possible. You would have to skip the shows and the attractions that are open in order to do it. The lines can get to two hours or more sometimes...especially on the weekends.

The Stay & Scream holding areas is an area set aside for people who are in the park before closing and have tickets for HHN that night. It will really help to do this as you won't have to stand outside in the general public line waiting for the gate to open.

If you buy the Express pass and do S & S, you most certainly can do all the houses in one night.

 

[lisareneeo]

Thanks for all of your help. We would probably buy the express pass....how much is it? How many houses are there to go through?

 

[Metro West]

Thanks for all of your help. We would probably buy the express pass....how much is it? How many houses are there to go through?

The Express pass cost varies by day of the week. This year prices were anywhere from about $30.00 to $70.00 for the weekends. We'll have to see how much they are next year...there's no way to guess.

The number of houses varies from seven to eight depending on what the plan is. Nothing will be known until next summer.

 

[Purseval]

It's difficult to do all the houses in one night w/o purchasing the Express pass which can be expensive although some people will tell you it's possible.

I'm one of those people who go every year, see everything they have to offer and has never purchased an express pass. The main problem with the EP is that when it's inexpensive you don't need it and when you might need it they charge way too much. The only people who really benefit from the EP are:

1. Those where cost doesn't matter, the types who pay for a full day of private lessons at a ski resort just so they don't have to wait in the lift line.

2. Those who only have one day, can't get into Stay & Scream and absolutely, positively have to be sure that they see everything.

3. You are an HHN addict and no amount of visits is ever enough.

4. Those who rarely or never go to the park and not only want to see all of the houses and scarezones but want to get on all of the rides as well (most HHN visitors skip the rides so lines are rarely long but they do eat up time just to go on them)

For the rest of us Stay and Scream is far more beneficial than an EP because it gives you a jump on the crowd and you can easily see 4 or 5 houses before the first showing of Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure. So even if you spend an hour or more in each line of the remaining houses you will get to see everything. Many is the time I've seen all of the houses, gone to all of the shows (this year there were only 2, some years there are 3) and been in City Walk by 10pm. And it's not that unusual, if you go back and read the HHN threads you will see that just about everyone who writes gets to see all of the attractions, EP or no EP. In fact some people write about visiting one house 5 or 6 times in an evening because they liked it so much. The EP only gets you one free walk to the front, that tells you how much they really needed it

If you have multiple chances to visit HHN then it is a guarantee that you will see everything. This is actually our preferred way to see HHN with no wait. We go to S&S, hit as many houses as we can until the lines build up, see the shows, do the scarezones and leave. Next day we do the same thing but hit the houses we missed the first time. When you can do this you will be enjoying the scarezones and the atmosphere of the park at a leisurely pace while the others are standing in line.

If you decide that an EP is the way to go then use it wisely. One thing we see every visit are the people using their EPs to get to the front of a nonexistent line, totally wasting the money they spent on their passes. You only get one visit to each house, save those visits for later in the night when lines are long. It is typical of an EP to get priority seating for the first showing of Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure. That should be the first time you use it. See as many houses as you can for free then use your EP to see them again when it gets crowded.

That's my 2 cents, take it for what it's worth

 

[macraven]

I'm one of those people who go every year, see everything they have to offer and has never purchased an express pass. The main problem with the EP is that when it's inexpensive you don't need it and when you might need it they charge way too much. The only people who really benefit from the EP are:

1. Those where cost doesn't matter, the types who pay for a full day of private lessons at a ski resort just so they don't have to wait in the lift line.

2. Those who only have one day, can't get into Stay & Scream and absolutely, positively have to be sure that they see everything.

3. You are an HHN addict and no amount of visits is ever enough.

4. Those who rarely or never go to the park and not only want to see all of the houses and scarezones but want to get on all of the rides as well (most HHN visitors skip the rides so lines are rarely long but they do eat up time just to go on them)



That's my 2 cents, take it for what it's worth

I buy the epp each year for each day i attend the event.
put me in group #3.

totally and completely addicted to HHN............

 

[Rip]

I buy the epp each year for each day i attend the event.
put me in group #3.

totally and completely addicted to HHN............

That's exactly what we do, for the same reason.

 

[macraven]

That's exactly what we do, for the same reason.

i knew i wasn't going to stand alone on being in catagory #3.........

there should be more homies like us Rip.......

 

[Rip]

i knew i wasn't going to stand alone on being in catagory #3.........

there should be more homies like us Rip.......

I'm not sure of your views on it, but I'm also one of those that doesn't want them to reduce the prices on EPs either. I remember when they first started selling them as booklets for either $20 or $25 and they would quickly sell out and you'd end up with 20-30 minute lines in the EP lane. Now I rarely if ever wait more than 5.

 

[macraven]

i'm still with you Rip.
i have no issues on the costs of the hhn epps........


we think alike

 

[inkkognito]

The EPs still haven't gotten high enough for us to shun them, although we don't get one for every night. They're handy on the busiest nights, but we're lucky enough to get to visit HHN frequently (16 times this year) so we know how to maximize our time without them. I cannot stress enough how valuable Stay & Scream is. We went through Saw more than 40 times with a combination of Express and S & S over the course of the season...mostly via S & S. EP was worthless at that house as the night wore on as EP was half an hour some nights.

 

[Metallicat]

The EPs still haven't gotten high enough for us to shun them, although we don't get one for every night. They're handy on the busiest nights, but we're lucky enough to get to visit HHN frequently (16 times this year) so we know how to maximize our time without them. I cannot stress enough how valuable Stay & Scream is. We went through Saw more than 40 times with a combination of Express and S & S over the course of the season...mostly via S & S. EP was worthless at that house as the night wore on as EP was half an hour some nights.

Goodness. you went through the Saw house more than 40 times? doesn't it get kinda dull after say the first five or six times? I don't mean to sound snarky (forgive me if I do) but where is the thrill when you have been through it that many times?

last year I was in Orlando for two weeks with frequent fear tickets. after two nights of it I was bored because I had seen it all and knew where the scare actors were, etc.. I have went every year for ten years. I LOVE HHN's. but once I've been through a house say four or five times, it is just, meh to me.

 

[Purseval]

i'm still with you Rip.
i have no issues on the costs of the hhn epps........


we think alike

You do know that category 3 was made with you in mind, right?

Goodness. you went through the Saw house more than 40 times? doesn't it get kinda dull after say the first five or six times? I don't mean to sound snarky (forgive me if I do) but where is the thrill when you have been through it that many times?

Did you notice the fruit arranged into a phallic symbol near the Gypsy's wagon? Did you see the chatty tourist on her cellphone get kidnapped at the beginning of Saw, only to reappear further down the line in a trap? Did you see the feral vampires coming to eat their snacks? There are hundreds of small details in the houses, most missed as you get pushed through by the crowd. I wish I had time to meander through at my own pace but 30-40 visits could accomplish the same thing.

EP was worthless at that house as the night wore on as EP was half an hour some nights.

You folks who are on the fence when it comes to buying an EP should take notice of this quote. This person was annoyed because she had to wait half an hour. One can make the argument that for a person paying $60 extra to see the houses then half an hour is pretty aggravating. If you can stand that same half an hour for free then you can probably live without an Express Pass.

 

[donaldduck352]

Did you notice the fruit arranged into a phallic symbol near the Gypsy's wagon? Did you see the chatty tourist on her cellphone get kidnapped at the beginning of Saw, only to reappear further down the line in a trap? Did you see the feral vampires coming to eat their snacks? There are hundreds of small details in the houses, most missed as you get pushed through by the crowd. I wish I had time to meander through at my own pace but 30-40 visits could accomplish the same thing.

The little things like that is what I missed this year cause we only went twice.The 1'st night I bought EP's and the 2'nd was RIP tour and still didn't see 1/2.The more nights the better..