Universal Halloween Horror Nights *Family Friendly Info*

[Denicio]

For any disney families, like mine, who's littleones are not little anymore (preteens and teens) and are thinking about Universals Halloween Horror nights.

I'd like to share an observation.

The advertisment makes it sound fantastic...

In reality, its cool..but expect it to be a teen fest of all the teens with fake id's drinking abundantly, smoking in line (a major no no on the rules) and losts of groping.

The haunted houses are fun. But if you are seriously going. SPEND the extra $ and get the fast pass thingy. The longest lines we encountered the WHOLE WEEK in orlando, was the night we did the Hween Horror at Universal.

Given a choice to do it again....i'd just stayed at the hotel and swam.

Just passing on some info.
Sorry for the Non Disney Off topic nature of it. I am sure there are folks going that may be considering going.

Dennis

 

[ChrisFL]

We have a Universal Studios forum with several posts and reviews of HHN.

I will say that I was there a week ago and there were plenty of local police to make sure everyone was behaving and obeying the law.

I will say that this year's HHN hasn't been quite as good as the past few years but I think we may see some good changes to the event next year.

 

[Luv2Roam]

Universal ain't Disney, and the team members there say that with pride. That being said, keep it in mind, USO is not Disney. I don't think we will see jello shot gals wandering the parks -- even in WS.
This year the monitoring has been better at USO than the past two years we have been there. But it is just an improvement over what seemed like a frat party after 9 p.m. And gets worse the more the night goes on.
It is different form Disney, that is for sure. Some will see that as good. Some not.

 

[Daisy Chick]

I wouldn't take little ones to Halloween Horror Nights. Uni is great for little kids, but the Horror Nights aren't.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I am surprised at the number of little kids I have seen at HHN this year, and even go through houses. MANY more than in the past two years. I hope those kids sleep well at night....
If they are promoting this as family friendly, maybe that is why more small kids.
We really enjoy HHN. But we are adults, no kids, go often and early and leave early. By the time it starts getting crazy, we leave after having spent a long time there.
There is always a safe zone. But it is a minature version of Carny games. Not too thrilling. No parade this year either.

 

[DisneyWisher]

I don't think HHN ever promoted itself as family friendly, my daughters (teenagers) love it. But they are supervised by me. Last year I noticed people smoking anywhere and no one saying anything. Didn't bother me (yes, I'm a non-smoker) but I can see if people are allergic its not a good thing. But with the smoke and fog machine that would be hard for them too.

My brother's family went Oct 14 and my SIL was very upset by all the alcohol and "drunk" people. I warned her before hand that every vendor sells liquor and that you see alot of people drinking. She said she was going write a letter and complain. That had my brother and I laughing. Yeah, like Universal's going to stop selling the liquor. I bet they make as much in liquor sales as they do on the entry fee. BYW brother's kids loved it DD16, DS14, and DD12.

 

[Jason71]

I don't think HHN ever promoted itself as family friendly

This was actually the first year they put a suggested age on the event (13 and up); I don't think it's fair to suggest they market HHN to little kids, or even preteens.

Re: fake IDs. I suppose it's a matter of perspective, I was annoyed with having to show an ID every time (I'm clearly in my 30s) even tho I had a wristband like at PI. Liquor is prominent, but pretty much every review of HHN you read mentions this fact.

Re: kids. I've even seen a number of toddlers this year. It's crazy.

 

[the Dark Marauder]

HHN has never been considered "Family Friendly"

All admission prices are for adults. HHN is always billed as "may be too intense for young children" because Universal knows there are some children that can handle it, but many cannot.Anyone who brings a young child into HHN and later goes to Guest Services raising hell because their child got scared deserves to get no sympathy.

 

[macraven]

maybe you went at a later time than when i did.

i went the second weekend all 3 nights and did not see anything you described.

there were plenty of cops around when i was there.
never did see groups of teens at hhn. mostly young adults over 21-26.

sure there are lines for the houses and rides.
the houses and scarezones is what makes hhn a big hit.

buy the express pass for hhn.
you have short waits for houses and rides then.


i am thrilled that universal does not make the hhn nights a family night event.
i get tired of strollers hitting my heels in the parks........

about the smoking, each night i attended hhn, if there was a person smoking in the house/ride lines, they were instructed by the tm to put it out. also, people smoking outside the designated areas also were told to put it out.

for those allergy to smoke or just don't like it, hhn is not the place for you.
the fog machines were all over in sections in the park.

universal had a tight rein on the drinking when i was there.
underage kids that were drinking didn't last long. one night i saw some busted by undercover cops and hauled away. and the adults that bought the 20 year olds booze went with them.

sorry you didn't like hhn.
maybe mnsshp would be better for your family. it is a different atmosphere and theme.

 

[Denicio]

We had a decent time, dont get me wrong. I just wanted to post a subltle warning to anyone thinking of going.

We had a good time, the haunted houses were fun. The chainsaw guys were fun too.

My kids are 11/13/15 and all love horror movies. SO i was not scared of the content.

What did disturb me was that its appeared to me to be a Highschool equilivant of "My parents are gone for the weekend lets have a party" mentality.

We wanted to be scared. But the wife and i, both heavy metal rockers at heart, quit going to outdoor concerts due to the 'mob mentality' these days at events. Moshing to a collective soul ballad is not my idea of a good time. So when i was surrounded by CLEARLY 16-18 year old boys smoking one cig right after the next trying to impress the girls. And some 18ish girls with booze in thier hands...it bothered me. I saw NO cast member asking them to stop, but i did see them openly smoking in front of them, and the TM turned a blind eye.

Its like i tell folks that dont like howard stern....just turn it off and dont listen! So in the spirit of taking my own advise...now that i have experienced HHN, i wont go back...based on the 'Frat Party" atmosphere that another poster so wizely compared it to.

I am POSITIVE if i were 14/15/16/17 years old, and could go to that by myself or with some friends...yeah, it would be a blast.

Dennis

 

[macraven]

dennis, try going to hhn on the first or second weekend of the event.
the crowds are there on saturdays but nothing like it is from hell week to the end of the month. the friday i went, the 6th, had such low crowds. the park started emptying out at 11:30 pm that night.

i go solo so i pick the smaller crowds of the month. the cops are more visable on the weekends i go as crowds are nothing like the time period you went.

i do disney for what it has to offer me. i have done mnsshp but my heart belongs to UO for what hhn has become. i am totally and completely addicted to hhn !

try another weekend and you will see the difference in the events.
sometimes it is not good to go the first weekend as the bugs are being worked out. many die hard fans love the end of the month.

robosaurus started up 2 days after i left which i am sorry i missed out on.
also, IOA opened up and non peak days and now peak days have extended the times for hhn. these things you will miss by going in the beginning of the month.
ok so i missed the extended hours and robosaurus but i had less crowds which was important to me.

hope you and your family return next year dennis. go the second weekend and see if you enjoy it more then.

i have always avoided hell week. i can imagine the teens are out in force due to no school on some days that week.

 

[Denicio]

Macraven,

For what its worth, we went on October 12th.


MEGA BUSY !

Dennis

 

[macraven]

Macraven,

For what its worth, we went on October 12th.


MEGA BUSY !

Dennis

that was the start of hell week when the high schoolers are out of school for part of the week.

i can see where the issues came up from then.
i avoid that week ........


i am out of orlando by that date.
the longest i have stayed for UO is the 10th of october.

 

[Rabbitlover]

I can only speak from the experience of my children when it comes to these type of events...granted we have not been to HHN (so I cant really speak my opinion too much) we have visited Halloweekends at Cedar Point and my 4 children( ages 9, 8, 7 & 6 ) LOVED the Haunted Houses, Fright Zones, Fear Faire etc...they were BEGGING to go back into some of the haunted houses and other areas that STRONGLY suggested no young children.

They did scream a few times but most of the time they were laughing and begging to go back through.

I know that HHN probably is a lot more fancier than Cedar Points events and it may be more scary but its still the same concept...some children handle it differently so please dont think of us as "bad parents" for taking our children to something like that.[[[[ I do think it might not be in the childs best interest if they are still in strollers or toddler age to be taken to such events though]]]]

We do not celebrate halloween but its nice to have fun every once in a while ( ie haunted houses ...etc)

 

[JulieWent]

Perspective is very strange, I guess. We went this past weekend (Sunday 10/22). I worried for months about taking my son (who is 12) to HHN. He has been begging to go to HHN for two years now, and he loves any horror movie that we'll let him see. So, we "gave" him a trip to HHN for his 12th birthday. After spending time here listening to the debate about how old children should be before going to HHN, though, I wasn't sure about what I was doing.

He had the time of his life. He laughed and screamed (in a purely devilish way, of course), and giggled the whole time we were there. He rated the houses. (I'm sure he'll post his ratings before long.) There was nothing that came anywhere near scaring him.

From a mom's perspective, I really didn't see much that made me cringe. Yeah, a few teenagers were doing some serious kissing on a bench. (See, I teach 15 year olds. I'm as likely to see that after work behind the gym as at HHN. Call me jaded.) There was a good deal of drinking going on. We go to college football games every weekend. HHN has nothing on tailgating in the SEC, I'm afraid. DS didn't notice any of it. He was way too busy wanting to know which house was next.

So, is it a "family affair"? Guess it depends on your family. HHN certainly didn't come off as a night of utter debauchery ala Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras. It was fun in a dark, weird way. Guess that says a lot about my family, huh?

Thanks to all of you who gave such good advice in the planning of our adventure!

Julie