The *OFFICIAL* HHN Review Thread

[Rockstar mentality]

To the big guys that say the scare actors go past them, where bright shirts that make you stand out. The actors would leave me alone last year. I wore a bright green shirt and a blue stripped shirt, I even had a Freddie come up to me and say "I like your shirt, its like mine" when I wore the stripped one.

 

[inkkognito]

Went to HHN tonight (Thurs.) and it started off slow, but by mid-evening it might as well have been a Fri. or Sat. during Hell Week! Bloody Mary was 120 minutes at its worst point, and other houses were up to 75 mins. Insane! Oh well, I guess Universal won't get any complaints that the EPs were overpriced. We still had a good time as we did Stay and Scream and got a LOT done early on. For some reason I was a magnet in the scare zones tonight. I love the zombie drill team...I wonder why they are never on the map. There were some weird space-looking guys out tonight past the Alice scare zone towards the exit...haven't seen them before. If today was this bad, I can't imagine Fri. and Sat.

 

[Trixie]

I went to the HHN Educational Program that is available on Thursdays for groups. It was 60 minutes long in the Movie Makeup Theatre from 5-6. It was supposed to be "Behind the Screams, the Making of the Mayhem". I don't recommend it. With the content that was presented, it was about 30 minutes too long. It had potential but didn't quite do it for our group.

 

[inkkognito]

Okay, where's the rest of the HHN peeps? I need more trip reports to get my fill while we're away on our cruise, which means we'll miss tonight and next Weds. I wonder how the crowd levels will be, as last Thurs. was insane. It could have easily passed for a Fri. or Sat. with the 75 to 120 min. waits. Stay and Scream was a lifesaver because it let us get so much done early on, and when things got too nuts we just had some pizza for dinner and headed home.

I've just about given up on the "walls" in Bloody Mary. They rarely if ever seem to be working anymore. Not sure why, since they had the same thing in Jack's house last year and it was working every time.

Hubby got an awesome scare...they got him from overhead in Body Collectors, and while he was still reeling from the shock another scareactor jumped out and got right up in his face. It was a riot! All of the houses we did were pretty good...last time there didn't seem to be as many scareactors at the end of Dead Exposure, but this time they were all there in full force. I never noticed the silver-clad spacemen wandering around towards the front of the park before, but there were a bunch of 'em and I got picked on unmercifully on our way out.

The Zombie Drill Team is still my favorite scare zone tho'. I love to stand there and watch the interaction, but one of 'em always ends up sneaking up on me if I do that too long. On Thurs. they were attacking some poor guy who was running backwards and ran right into me (I was him coming and braced so it wasn't a biggie). He was trying to apologize and then two zombies descended on me...meanwhile, hubby is walking away cluelessly while I am surrounded by zombies.

 

[lovethedon]

Just back and went to HHN on Sunday and Thursday. Learned a valuable lesson...avoid those days as they are the days where the Coke coupon for $33 off can be used. Went in on Sunday the 12th around 7:00 and had a 20 minute wait for Scary Tales (good house to start off with...not to scary) 30 minutes for Dead Exposure (great house), went on Jaws, and then waited roughly 25 minutes for Interstellar Terror and 20 minutes for creatures (scaractors were very funny). Decided to leave after the scare zones (Amercian Gothic and Streets of Blood were our favorites) since it was a 90 minute wait for Mary and over an hour wait for the Hollow. We went in around 6:15 on Thursday the 16th and walked into (no wait at all) the Bloody Mary house, Body Collectors, and Doomsday. Bloody Mary and Doomsday(had the bejesus scared out of me before I even got in the house...chainsaw gang ) would be better in complete darkness, however, the trade off was that we had great interaction with the scaractors since we were basically the only ones in the houses. Our favorite house was Dead Exposure...the strobe lit room where the bodies were stacked and hanging was very creepy. Ended the night with a 30 minute wait for the Hallow (an okay house...I think you get jaded after so many houses). Left by 9:00 and there were hoards of people in the park and a huge line at the gates waiting to enter as we left. If you go before dark and are worried about the houses being to lit up, I think Creatures, Interstellar Terror, and Body Collectors are all in sound stages where it is completely dark anyways.

My advice; don't be afraid of Saturdays, go early, avoid frequent fear nights if you can, start in the back of the park with Reflections of Fear before it gets to crowded, and if you have an AP think about going twice.

 

[the Dark Marauder]

I went last night with a group of 4 others. We had express, so it was all good--connections FTW!

I had a good time, but I can honestly say I prefer HHN sober than buzzed. Others can only do that kind of stuff hammered.

I got to see the whole Zombie drill team do their dance by the Simpsons: good stuff. Doomsday was not on-game last night when I went through. Bloody Mary was so-so. Dead Exposure was great as always. Creatures & Body Collectors were spot-on. Bill & Ted seemed to be a bit more "sexed up" during the final dance sequences.

Also, I must say GO THROUGH ASYLUM IN WONDERLAND. The caterpillar is so awesome & funny.

 

[Metro West]

I had a good time, but I can honestly say I prefer HHN sober than buzzed. Others can only do that kind of stuff hammered.

Doomsday was not on-game last night when I went through. Bloody Mary was so-so. Dead Exposure was great as always. Creatures & Body Collectors were spot-on.

Also, I must say GO THROUGH ASYLUM IN WONDERLAND. The caterpillar is so awesome & funny.

Yes...the caterpillar is very funny! I'm going to do Dead Exposure tonight but probably won't bother with Doomsday again...it's not my favorite this year. Body Collectors will be done along with Creatures.

 

[Seamus_Bean]

I went with a group on Thursday... it was AWESOME. We got to do all the houses so I'm satisfied

Here are my ratings:

Scary Tales- 10/10
Walked Through- Once.
Wait Time for us- About an hour.
This one was probably my favorite next to Dead Exposure. The whole "Fairy Tales gone wrong" theme was really cool. There's a lot of strobe light effects in this one so it's pretty disorienting and adds to the effect really well. It was a long wait but I'd say it was worth it.

Dead Exposure- 10/10
Walked Through- Twice.
Wait Time for us- About 2 minutes each time.
My favorite house next to Scary Tales. Loved the whole zombie "picture" theme. The backlights provided some great scares. I'd be looking around, it would go pitch black, and suddenly there's a zombie right behind me. Of course I'd freak out. We did this one around 1am so the line was really short. Then we went and did The Hallows and we came out right next to Exposure so we did it again. It was great the second time too. Noticed things I didn't notice before.

Body Collectors- 9/10
Walked Through- Once.
Wait Time for us- About 45 minutes.
Very creepy. I love the storyline to this one. Long-ish wait but worth it.

The Hallow- 9/10
Walked Through- Once.
Wait Time for us- About 5 minutes.
A house that takes you through the supposed "origins" of Halloween. Some really creepy and disturbing stuff in this one.

Doomsday- 8/10
Walked Through- Once.
Wait Time for us- About 5 minutes.
Never saw the movie so I didn't really "get" what this one was about but it was fun anyway. I got scared twice by guys with chainsaws (even before I got into the main house!).

Interstellar Terror- 8/10
Walked Through- Once.
Wait Time for us- About 25 minutes.
I don't really find aliens and such "scary" but this one was great in it's own right. Not particularly scary but the ending REALLY made it worth it. Cool sci-fi theme too.

Creatures- 8/10
Walked Through- Once.
Wait Time for us- About 20 minutes.
This is the first one we did. It was more goofy then scary but fun all the same. The scare-actors were really funny especially at the beginning

Reflections of Fear- 6/10
Walked Through- Once.
Wait Time for us- About 2 hours.
Mildly entertaining but way too short and not scary enough... especially seeing that the "Bloody Mary" character is the theme this year. Not worth the wait AT ALL. Do this one near when HHN just opens or when it's about to close or else just skip it.

 

[Metro West]

Excellent review!

 

[Purseval]

We went twice, on Sunday Oct. 12th and Thursday the 16th, arriving for Stay and Scream both days. We made it through 6 houses by 7:30pm without an express pass so we obviously could have made it through all 8 with no problem. The lines for Scary Tales and The Hallow were about 60 minutes each and we knew we would be coming back on thursday so we didn't bother. Instead we went through all of the scare zones. Asylum in Wonderland was our favorite, Streets of Blood was probably 2nd best but they were all good.

Out of the three shows I liked Bill and Ted the best, the three of us thought it was great but my wife liked the Rocky Horror Show tribute better than B&T. We all thought Brian Bushwood was okay once, we wouldn't go see it again.

Thursday we went through Creatures and Body Collectors with Inkognito and her husband, who gave us a valuable tip about the 2 houses we missed on Sunday. If you go through Scary Tales first it exits right at the entrance to The Hallow. If you choose The Hallow first it exits over by Dead Exposure and you have to walk all the way back around. We took their advice and went through both houses with almost no wait. Once again we were through 6 houses by 7:30. HHN was advertised to end at 2am on Thursday but at the last minute they changed it to midnight, we ripped them good in the survey they gave when you exit the park. Other than that it was a splendid time.

 

[raph_b]

I went with a group on Thursday... it was AWESOME. We got to do all the houses so I'm satisfied

Here are my ratings:

Scary Tales- 10/10
Walked Through- Once.
Wait Time for us- About an hour.
This one was probably my favorite next to Dead Exposure. The whole "Fairy Tales gone wrong" theme was really cool. There's a lot of strobe light effects in this one so it's pretty disorienting and adds to the effect really well. It was a long wait but I'd say it was worth it.

Dead Exposure- 10/10
Walked Through- Twice.
Wait Time for us- About 2 minutes each time.
My favorite house next to Scary Tales. Loved the whole zombie "picture" theme. The backlights provided some great scares. I'd be looking around, it would go pitch black, and suddenly there's a zombie right behind me. Of course I'd freak out. We did this one around 1am so the line was really short. Then we went and did The Hallows and we came out right next to Exposure so we did it again. It was great the second time too. Noticed things I didn't notice before.

Body Collectors- 9/10
Walked Through- Once.
Wait Time for us- About 45 minutes.
Very creepy. I love the storyline to this one. Long-ish wait but worth it.

The Hallow- 9/10
Walked Through- Once.
Wait Time for us- About 5 minutes.
A house that takes you through the supposed "origins" of Halloween. Some really creepy and disturbing stuff in this one.

Doomsday- 8/10
Walked Through- Once.
Wait Time for us- About 5 minutes.
Never saw the movie so I didn't really "get" what this one was about but it was fun anyway. I got scared twice by guys with chainsaws (even before I got into the main house!).

Interstellar Terror- 8/10
Walked Through- Once.
Wait Time for us- About 25 minutes.
I don't really find aliens and such "scary" but this one was great in it's own right. Not particularly scary but the ending REALLY made it worth it. Cool sci-fi theme too.

Creatures- 8/10
Walked Through- Once.
Wait Time for us- About 20 minutes.
This is the first one we did. It was more goofy then scary but fun all the same. The scare-actors were really funny especially at the beginning

Reflections of Fear- 6/10
Walked Through- Once.
Wait Time for us- About 2 hours.
Mildly entertaining but way too short and not scary enough... especially seeing that the "Bloody Mary" character is the theme this year. Not worth the wait AT ALL. Do this one near when HHN just opens or when it's about to close or else just skip it.

I think my list of preference is exactly the same as yours!! - although I preferred Dead Exposure to Scary Tales - Just!

 

[Andrea from PA]

I skipped HHN & hung out w/ my younger kids at HRH

DS (12) & DH are now hooked on HHN. They went on 10/12 w/ S&S and Express. They did all but Rocky Horror & the Sci-Fi (Interstellar?) house plus hit a few rides.

I think I'll be going next time around.

Thanks to all here for your great advice -- Sunday was our 1st full day of vacation. We did US all day & DH was exhausted. Thanks to all your advice, he was tired, but not grumpy or miserable.

Staying the 1 night at HRH really worked out great for us!

 

[Henna's_Mom]

Went last night and did the stay and scream by Finnegans so by the time the house lines hit 45 minutes and up Dh and I did Body Collectors (twice), creatures, reflections of fear,and dead exposure. Then we got some food, messed around in the scarezones and then did all the houses with our express passes. We had such a great time! Way better than last year.

My Ranking (from favorite to least favorite)

1) Body Collectors - Those guys always freak me out even when they were in IOA, probably lost 5 pounds this weekend running from them.
2) Scary Tales - Poor Toto, bad tinman that is not nice!
3) Dead Exposure- Freaky dark
4) Refelctions of Fear- Short but good
5) Creatures- Not scary but lots of fun, DH said if he heard banjos it would have been the scariest house there.
6) The Hallow- Well done
7) Interstellar Terror- love the vortex
8) Doomsday- just bad

That's how I felt about the houses and will be back for next years HHN, maybe will get to meet up with some of you then. Well, heading back over the the Island have 2 more days before heading over to the world. Oh and BTW; Bart Simpson has a total man crush on my husband, will post the picture when I get a chance.

 

[ToGreen78]

Asylum in wonderland was cool- The caterpillar was AWESOME- he harressed the crap out of DH and I, i guess he was pregnant with my baby and I smelled great!

 

[chataro]

Went last night, 10/19, for the 4th time this year (a new record!!!) and we did the S & S because we have the annual passes.

We had Scary Tales, Hallow, Dead Exposure, Reflections of Fear, Doomsday, and Body Collectors done by 7:15. When we got out of Body Collectors, Creatures was up to a 45 min wait, so we decided to call it a night on the houses and we just walked around for a bit then headed out early. We decided not to kill ourselves like we did last week. (getting old) We were shocked at the amount of people still coming in around 8:30 when we were leaving. I couldn't imagine coming that late and seeing the 75 min waits that we just avoided by being there on time. Don't get it, but that's just me.

After four times, here is my thoughts on the houses now.

Scary Tales: DW and mine favorite. We just love the familiar scenes in this one with the gory twists. This one is a must do. 10/10

Dead Exposure: Really bizarre house. I really like the way they keep your senses freaked in this one. It is also a very dark house and last night, the entire last quarter of the house had nothing in it. It looked as though they took the zombie over your head completely away. 9/10

The Hallow: Good house with some decent scares in it. The house is very dark and there are some places you really need to search for which way to go. 8/10

Doomsday: Depending on how you hit it, this can be a really good house. We went last week and had the best time ever at HHN because we were the only ones in the house. Some really good sounds, smells, and sights in this one. Grew to like it more each time we did it. 8/10

Body Collectors: Visually great house. The scares aren't all that great, but just walking through and looking at all the details make this house worth it. They were in the middle of shift change last night, so we missed a lot of things in that house. Still a good house. 8/10

Creatures: This house just didn't seem scary to me. I found the "rednecks" just standing there in plain site and just yelling at you. Didn't really do much for me or DW. Couple scares here and there, but more sounds then scares.
6/10

Intersteller Terror: Great scenes and effects, but it seemed as though that was most all there was in that house. Would do that house with very little wait, but that would be it. Just didn't get into this one. 6/10

Reflections of Fear: Hate to say it, but we went through this house everytime we went just hoping it would be better. Thank God we never had more than a 5 min wait each time. I am only more harsh on this house because it was the theme house. Everything HHN was about this year, this house was the flagship. I just really think they dropped the ball on this one.
The house was short, the blow up walls only worked the very first time we went, the scaractors just didn't seem to care anytime we went through the house, and there just wasn't a good vibe to that house. They should have put this house in one of the sound stages and really made it good. My only complaint this year.

All in all, we loved every time we went and some great scares were enjoyed by my DW and we are in love with the event. Crowd has never been a problem for us and we are trying to figure out if we can make it one more time this year.

Must do Houses:

Scary Tales
Dead Exposure
The Hallow
Doomsday
Body Collectors

Do if you have time houses:

Creatures
Intersteller Terror

Only if there is no wait house:
Reflection of Fear

 

[Funky_dino]

My oppinion on the houses sounds the opposite to most hehe.
We had huge queues for all the houses and the park was packed, We went on thursday just gone (16th)
The Hallow which I didn't think was too good was 30 min to start with.
Body collectors was an hour and I found so dissapointing, esp as people spoke very highly of the previous one.

Reflections was about an hour, I thought it was really good just too short

Doomsday was bout 45 min, And yes the bit at the very end when you exit is great

Interstellar Terror i thought was good and that had about 40 min.

The other 3 houses all had 2 hour waits on them and just didn't have enough time left to even queue for them. which was a shame

The scarezones were good, esp asylum in wonderland. By american standards i have quite mad hair hehe so I always get singled out, which is good on HHN's hehe

 

[Metro West]

Went last night and did the stay and scream by Finnegans so by the time the house lines hit 45 minutes and up Dh and I did Body Collectors (twice), creatures, reflections of fear,and dead exposure. Then we got some food, messed around in the scarezones and then did all the houses with our express passes. We had such a great time! Way better than last year.

Sorry I missed you last night. I went to dinner at Finnegan's with Keishashadow and family. By the time we were finished talking and eating it was 6pm and the holding area was released.

We ran into Bonny and Lee (Cdn friends of Pooh) a couple of times during the evening. We did Creatures, Body Collectors, Scary Tales and Dead Exposure before it was time for me to leave.

It was really crowded and the lines were in access of 45 mins after 7:30pm.

 

[jag90]

Me and DD(15) will be going this Sunday 10/26 for our 1st HHN. Looks like the ep's are already sold out. What are and where can we get the individual ep's I've seen mentioned?

Since we don't have passes right now either, we'll be stuck at the gate with the masses. Any advise on which way to head once we get in? Don't really care about the shows, just want to get as many houses and scare zones in as we can.

Thanks
Buddy

 

[the Dark Marauder]

Individual EPs can be found at Guest Services, or sold by walk-around vendors.

Definitely see Reflections of Fear before the first Bill & Ted show. After that, the line is 30+ mins for the rest of the night.

Backtrack to Dead Exposure, then Scary Tales & The Hallow (in that order).

From there, head to the soundstage houses.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Hey all ... we're back from our trip and can definitely say that this year's HHN was one of the best. Will post some pics later ...

PS - it was great to finally meet you DM!!