So bummed.. HHN

[chrystie4141]

So DH, DS (who is 10 now) and myself were so excited for our 4th year of HHN. Planned the trip 8 months ago. Even went for club level at HRH (which we loved). Of course what happens, Matthew!! We got there on the the 1st and had a great time at the parks all week. We even tried the impact wrestling that you get free tickets for and DS LOVED this. Warning some parts can be a little non kid friendly so just like HHN you know your child. BUT, back to the bummed part. Wednesday night they were strongly suggesting guest move inland. Thursday HHN was cancelled and Friday also. We had to leave on Saturday. Needless to say we enjoyed all day at the parks on Thursday (it was a great day until maybe 4) and then tracked off to Tampa to stay and catch a flight home on Friday. All of us were very sad!! We missed it.. The one thing we look forward to all year and we missed it!!! We did do howl o screem in Tampa but it wasn't nearly the same (money wasted). I even was trying to get enough money back up to make the flight, hotel and tickets for just next weekend but a) hotels are full and b) it is over 1500 for 2 days. I understand that it is not their fault that Matthew hit but I so wish they would have offered anything to help us come back. We had a great time but are super bummed we missed it this year!!!

 

[schumigirl]

It is a shame.

So many folks I've read about that were only there for one or two nights and missed both HHN events are in the same boat. We had friends fly back to the UK on Saturday and Thursday Friday were their only nights to go to the event, so the ticket exchange wasn't of use to them.

You didn't enjoy Howl o Scream? That's a shame too.......have heard good things about it from folks on here.

 

[CAS239]

Howl o scream is terrible compared to HHN. It wouldn't be bad at $20 a ticket, but more than that it's not really worth it. Scares zones are weak and houses are meh.

 

[go2grl]

I'm sorry you didn't get to go. Did they at least reimburse you the ticket price for the days it was cancelled?

 

[damo]

Awww, I'm sorry you didn't get to go too. It's like planning your trip and your favourite rides end up being down.

 

[tony67]

Id be pretty upset as well - the only reason I do this time of year and not December is HHN - and there is always that risk of a big storm in the back of my mind.
I'm sure Universal would have preferred to not cancel Friday night - but they had to plan for the worst.
It's unfortunate you could not have extend for a day - at least they may have worked with you on the hotel and tickets.
The flight may have been tough to reschedule though.

 

[chrystie4141]

Yes, they refunded the money with no issues. I know its not their fault it just sucks. AA couldn't get us out if we didn't take the tampa flight on Friday until Monday night and DS has already missed 5 days of school and to miss one more if not two would have been a major no-no. It is the flight that kills us. We are coming from NC (not but 9 hours but not a 2 day trip drive) and the flights were over 300 apiece then all the hotels were booked and DH refuses to stay anywhere but onsite. If I think about it he is right a extra $1,000 for flight, $700 for hotel (if someone would cancel for two nights) and $400 for tickets to HHN with express pass (we spend the other on Howl o scream) to come in on a Saturday night and leave on a Monday morning sounds either a) like we have money coming out of our ears (which we don't!!!) or b) like we have lost our minds!! Plus to add to the mix my DS play club soccer and has games on Saturdays as well as a JV tackle football team in 1st place right now and a game on Saturdays so it would be super hard. Oh well next year I am doing it on the first half of the trip so I have the second half to fall back on lesson learnt!

 

[schumigirl]

I understand that it is not their fault that Matthew hit but I so wish they would have offered anything to help us come back.

Yes, they refunded the money with no issues.

You did get your money back

I'm not sure what else you are looking for from them......to help you come back?

 

[chrystie4141]

No not at all. They were great. I was just more or less venting out loud at how life can work!

 

[macraven]

I was there during the hurricane and had my private tour cancelled

Also missed out on two nights of Hhn that was planned
Bought the season Hhn pass as I had planned on more days for Hhn but what can you do when parks are closed

Still had a good time and was staying after the parks reopened and able to hit Hhn some nights

Yea it was disappointing but weather issues do happen and there is nothing UO can do about that

Refunds were not an issue with UO

Hope you will be able to plan another trip in the future for Hhn

And hopefully no hurricanes for when you are there!!

 

[Nobody352]

dont worry too much. Howl o screams scare actors were a million times better than halloween horror nights and Unearthed and bayou were better than any of the houses at HHN this year. I will probably still do both events every year, but gardens was just WAY better overall. You can actually get startled walking around gardens because there are winding paths and bushes for the actors to hide in. The rigging they have in some houses for actors to "fly" out at you not being used at HHN is almost criminal. Gardens has HUGE puppets/ that are just awesome. A lot of their cast at howl o screams actually TALK to you and try to creep you out. I just wish they didnt repeat the same houses every year. Thats the main draw for HHN still for me is it being brand new every year.. but HHN having marked scare zones with 0 scares is just getting really lame. Its starting to be Halloween horror nights for highly detailed big budget actors, detailed sets, and i.p.'s with close to 0 scares and howl o screams for startle and jumps with a low budget that gets a bit too repetitive. I wish one would just go all out. howl o screams have camo scareactors, actors with knee pads etc. that zoom across the ground... i wish HHN had things like that.

 

[Nobody352]

Gardens DOES need to rid itself of zombie containment though. That is by FAR the worst house/ concept ive ever been in.

They both have their plus and minuses... but it was almost EMPTY when we were there over the weekend. Maybe that enabled the actors to key in on us... not having someone push you through every room also gives howl o screams an edge. We went through each house almost exclusively with our group with our fast passes. BELIEVE ME.. i didnt want this to be true either. I went in hoping howl o screams wasnt going to be too good because i have to justify spending a boat load of cash on HHN, Mickeys not so scary, and howl o screams each year since the kids are too sensitive yet for the mature events.

 

[macraven]

Thank you for your thoughts but let's get back on the subject of Hhn at UO

For those that do other haunts, I'm sure they compare them

Why don't you make a new thread about howl o'ween?

For those that have not gone to it in Tampa, they might enjoy learning about another haunt

I know I would