"What Is This, a Crossover Episode?"-HHN 29, Universal, & A Little Disney (Sep 2019)-Completed 1/6-New PTR Link

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Weirdest thing was he was the same age as me. :rotfl:

Yeah before we went, I kept seeing posts on facebook about people bringing their own straws and I was thinking it was dramatic. Then suddenly I was wishing I had my own straws lol

I still probably wouldn't have brought my own, but I really didn't like it.

:rotfl: :rotfl: I feel like they were a lie lol. We sat in that scare zone for like 15-20 minutes at one point and it definitely didn't happen.

Lol yes!

Yeah they brushed over it so briefly which surprises me after your explanation cause they clearly make their living on youtube. Maybe they already know something we don't?

Maybe they've already made a decision about how they'll do everything and just didn't want to get into the details? However it does seem to me more like they weren't really thinking about it at all, and I've seen that attitude from some people that if they say it's not for kids then they're good. And I don't think that's how it's going to work. So hopefully they have a plan or have someone they can consult about what to do.

There's a thread about it in regards to the Dis podcast (on the podcast board), and Craig weighed in. I found his response to be similar to how I was feeling about it, and I feel like he's gone into more detail than most other people I watch. That it's more a case of marking it a certain way just to be safe because we don't really know if they'll crack down or not yet. And if there's a chance the video could "appeal to children" (especially if it isn't your main source of income) then you need to be realistic about what you mark it, and not say well my whole channel isn't made for children so that's that.
 
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"Yesterday You Would've Died of the Heat & Today It's Worse"
September 18th

Samantha and I started our day with a trip to Crystal Palace.


Crystal Palace Review

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The title of this post is a quote I heard walking into Tomorrowland. :rotfl:

From personal experience I have to say I found the day before this one to be hotter, but that quote pretty much sums up the weather in Florida.

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After that I didn't take any photos for awhile, but I know we rode Peter Pan's Flight with a FP, and Winnie the Pooh. We knew we only had a short time in MK this morning because Josh's flight was coming in, and was on time (maybe a few minutes early), so we wanted to make sure to get back to the resort on time. (And with hopefully enough time for me to shower quickly). So we decided to take a Minnie van.

I bid goodbye to Samantha (until the next day), and I met Josh in the lobby after my shower.

On the way to Sapphire Falls we had a weird ride, our driver tried to drive us around the back of the resort. It was pretty obvious this wasn't the right area/street, and you couldn't get to the front from there. When he asked us to get out there, security told him he couldn't do that and he needed to drop us off at the entrance. He didn't seem to know where he was going, and he was driving really fast so when he again dropped us off in the wrong place (across from the hotel) we just decided to get out and walk. :rotfl:
Here's our room:


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I don't know if it's because we're used to staying at RPR, but the room seemed kind of crowded and cramped. There was almost 0 space around the sink, and instead of the glass door shower I remember having the first time we stayed there, we had one that looked like a school gym shower? It was a good price, but I was not thrilled with the room, and I've already booked RPR for next year. Overall though it wasn't a bad stay, it just seemed smaller than I remember.

But we were off to Bice!


Bice Review

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After dinner we got ready to head over to HHN. I was so excited to show Josh everything.

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Josh is wearing the Shorty shirt I had them print at HHN the weekend before, so we have matching Killer Klowns shirts :laughing::


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We did Ghostbusters first. It was about a 40 minute wait, and the people in front of us were very strange. They were in a group, and one girl was trying to act like it was the scariest thing she'd ever seen. She literally threw herself to the ground at one point screaming so that the others would pick her up.

It was annoying, but Josh liked the house.

In the Tribute Store we found the cup for my dad!

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I bought it asap this time in case they sold out again, but I was so happy to be able to check that off the list.

Then we made a huge mistake.

Nightingales: Blood Pit said it was only a 20 min wait which was the shortest of anything. I figured it would be a good time to get it out of the way since Josh was really curious to see it (he really likes gladiator stuff), and I didn't want to wait long for it. Well when we got into the line it must've jumped to 50 mins, because that's how long we waited. I also thought it was even worse the second time.


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The smell they pump in for this one is so horrible, that I spent the whole house trying not to puke.



I don't know why it was even worse the second time, but besides the scent, I wasn't impressed with the house either. I don't think Josh was too impressed either, so I secured a promise we would not go through that house again. I read some stuff on Twitter about how they really stepped it up in that house throughout the event, and it was a lot of people's favorite; but I honestly don't see where an improvement could be made. The story was incoherent, the monsters weren't cool, and the house smelled awful. The coolest part was the lion puppet and the facade.

I was craving another Twisted Tater so we stopped for one. I have another HHN snack review coming up so I won't say anything here. But with the amount of seasoning on that, you can maybe see how trying to eat that went...
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HHN Snack Review (Nights 4, 5, & 6)

Universal Monsters was a 30 min wait (though I think we waited longer than that). It was better this time (you know when I wasn't soaked), but I still think we never got a perfect run through of this house.



We did Killer Klowns on the way out. The Klowns were out and even more interactive tonight. The only problem was it looked about to rain (I don't think it did), and the TM that usually takes pictures seemed really distracted by that, so Josh took some pictures:


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I love them, but then we did ask the TM to get one of the both of us, he snapped this one quickly without looking to even see if he got it and it didn't really come out so that was a little disappointing.
Josh liked Killer Klowns too, and after that we decided to call it a night. I think we got a decent amount done Josh's first night, but this was the only night we got in line and the waits seemed to be longer than posted. But I was satisfied with what we got done since we had two more nights, and EP one of the nights.

Next Up
We have a relaxing day before the Everclear concert in Epcot!


 
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I had to document the new Tomorrowland sign that had been called a giant cupholder on Twitter:

:rotfl: :rotfl: I hadn't seen that til now but it does kinda look like a giant cupholder lol

Did you even ride the Peoplemover, if you didn't take a picture of you resting your feet on it?

Nope definitely doesn't count

He didn't seem to know where he was going, and he was driving really fast so when he again dropped us off in the wrong place (across from the hotel) we just decided to get out and walk.

Oo no- good self preservation instinct!

We did Ghostbusters first. It was about a 40 minute wait, and the people in front of us were very strange. They were in a group, and one girl was trying to act like it was the scariest thing she'd ever seen. She literally threw herself to the ground at one point screaming so that the others would pick her up.

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I hate when people act like this in the houses.

Nightingales: Blood Pit said it was only a 20 min wait which was the shortest of anything. I figured it would be a good time to get it out of the way since Josh was really curious to see it (he really likes gladiator stuff), and I didn't want to wait long for it. Well when we got into the line it must've jumped to 50 mins, because that's how long we waited.

That happened to us a few times. As soon as the wait time dropped for a house, it seemed like everyone flooded that line so it jumped up super quick.

I read some stuff on Twitter about how they really stepped it up in that house throughout the event, and it was a lot of people's favorite; but I honestly don't see where an improvement could be made. The story was incoherent, the monsters weren't cool, and the house smelled awful.

I saw that posted too and with how much we saw it was hated at the beginning, I feel like it must be true. It definitely wasn't our favorite but it wasn't horrible either. The story wasn't coherent to us still but we didn't notice a terrible smell and there were a good number of scareactors.
 
but it's just really disappointing since I put them up as a hobby/for fun, and now it feels like I have to take everything super seriously and make sure I don't film certain things and think about how to classify each video. (Because each video leaves me with different questions.
Yeah, it just seems like a huge, unnecessary headache. I get making things safe for kids, but there's gotta be a better way? And it really takes the fun out of it for viewers too. Something tells me they'll make some adjustments. (fingers crossed!)

I'm hoping it's not as harsh as they say, since people are already deleting their whole channels because of it.
That's really sad to me! :sad2:

Did you even ride the Peoplemover, if you didn't take a picture of you resting your feet on it?

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Nope. If you didn't take a picture of you resting your feet on it, you just didn't ride Peoplemover. :snooty: :laughing:

She literally threw herself to the ground at one point screaming so that the others would pick her up.
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The smell they pump in for this one is so horrible, that I spent the whole house trying not to puke.
Gross :scared:

The story was incoherent, the monsters weren't cool, and the house smelled awful.
This is one of those sentences that cracks me up because of how absurdly funny it sounds if you had no context :rotfl:
 


That was a quick snap the TM took of you and Josh!!!

Completely agree on Nightingales...….the smell was awful.....I just wish I could find something good to say about it, but any memory I had has completely went out of my mind.....apart from the smell!!! Disappointing house and it should have been so good. I didn't think it got any better by the end of our trip either. I did hear about folks commenting, but it just wasn't a great house and didn't seem to have been thought through. Maybe next year we should offer our opinion up before the close off on a house......lol.....

Were we in Ghostbusters at the same time!!!! I swear we had those pathetic creatures too......screaming and throwing themselves around for no reason!!! And I`m sorry you never got the perfect run in Classic Monsters....it really was top notch, I think we were lucky every time in those two back houses.

Nice update Raeven......
 
:rotfl: :rotfl: I hadn't seen that til now but it does kinda look like a giant cupholder lol

You're welcome :rotfl:

I hate when people act like this in the houses.

Me too! It's so obvious that they aren't really scared, and that it's just because they think it's funny to act that way.

I saw that posted too and with how much we saw it was hated at the beginning, I feel like it must be true. It definitely wasn't our favorite but it wasn't horrible either. The story wasn't coherent to us still but we didn't notice a terrible smell and there were a good number of scareactors.

I wonder if the smell didn't bother everyone. The first time I went through it was tolerable, but the second time it was basically all I noticed.

Yeah, it just seems like a huge, unnecessary headache. I get making things safe for kids, but there's gotta be a better way? And it really takes the fun out of it for viewers too. Something tells me they'll make some adjustments. (fingers crossed!)

The FTC has already put out some clarifying stuff that helps a little, but it looks like they might still be reviewing it.

That's really sad to me! :sad2:

It is! Especially because it seems so premature, I'd rather wait and see what happens before I do something like that.

This is one of those sentences that cracks me up because of how absurdly funny it sounds if you had no context :rotfl:

I like the next one too without context :rotfl:

Completely agree on Nightingales...….the smell was awful.....I just wish I could find something good to say about it, but any memory I had has completely went out of my mind.....apart from the smell!!! Disappointing house and it should have been so good. I didn't think it got any better by the end of our trip either. I did hear about folks commenting, but it just wasn't a great house and didn't seem to have been thought through. Maybe next year we should offer our opinion up before the close off on a house......lol.....

Yes! It's really all I remember too. I don't personally know anyone who liked it.

Were we in Ghostbusters at the same time!!!! I swear we had those pathetic creatures too......screaming and throwing themselves around for no reason!!! And I`m sorry you never got the perfect run in Classic Monsters....it really was top notch, I think we were lucky every time in those two back houses.

Why were so many people acting that way? :confused3 I think Classic Monsters would've been great if we hit it at the right times, I would've gone in it more if it wasn't in such a long queue.
 


"IT HAS A CRICKET IN IT!"
(A Night of 90's Bands, Pomeranian Validation, Bad Charades, & More)

September 19th

On this day we were going to meet Samantha at the parks, but we each ended up making different plans and meeting up later. After the first few days of the trip, I decided to sleep in a little and rest up during the day. The weather was cooler today than it had been earlier in the trip so we probably would've been fine, but I was glad we took some time just to relax. We ended up just watching trash tv and a show called Killer Couples. :laughing:

Around 3 pm, we headed to Epcot. We did some Food & Wine-ing, and ate at La Hacienda De San Angel.
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Food & Wine/La Hacienda De San Angel Review

After dinner we walked around for a bit with Samantha, and this is where we said our goodbyes. :sad:

Because there was one main reason I'd wanted to go to Epcot tonight…

See, I actually love the band Everclear. (As in still listen to them all the time still, know a lot of their newer stuff too, and would pay money to see them in concert). Every year that they play Eat to the Beat, I hope it falls during our dates, and it never has...until this year!


We decided to skip the package, and just get in line early since we had a bad experience with the Candlelight Processional package and getting a seat a couple years ago.

Because we were the first people in line (and were in line during the first show, for the second show) they gave us these wristbands to make sure we were let in first. Only like 5 people got them so I said we were VIPs. :laughing:


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We actually didn't have to wait that long before they let us in:m. And we were front row!


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It was a good show, and one day I'd like to see them play a longer concert. What I didn't expect is that they would play different songs in each of the three shows. (I guess it would get boring to play the same ones but I figured they had a set setlist or something). It seemed like you'd have to attend each of the 3 shows in order to hear all the songs you might want to hear (at least for them, I'm not sure how other artists do their shows).

For instance a lot of songs they played in our show had been requested in the previous show. They did play "Father of Mine" which is Josh's favorite, and "Wonderful" which is probably the song they're most known for, but there were a lot of songs I liked that I could hear them playing in the previous show while we were in line that they didn't play again. It was still a very good show, and I'm glad I got to see them; but the fact that they mainly played requests from the previous show, and then planned to play the requests from this show at the next one was a little disappointing.

After the show Art Alexakis came down stage a little and took some pictures with fans.

Back at our hotel we quickly changed for HHN. It was about 9 pm when we headed over.
Tonight was very exciting because we were meeting up with @amalone1013 & her husband, Zack! This is the 2nd time we did HHN with them, and last year was so much fun we planned to meet up again. Our HHN crew was reunited!

The first house we did was Us, which had about a 40 minute wait. We passed the time by playing Heads Up, although we had a hard time finding a category everyone liked. :rotfl: While we were playing the Disney version, Alyssa got the movie Dumbo as one she had to guess, and Josh shouts out "IT HAS A CRICKET IN IT!"

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Despite going to Disney as frequently as we do, Josh apparently thinks Jiminy Cricket is a character in Dumbo. :lmao:

Even though it might just be because we were playing games, the wait seemed shorter than 40 minutes, and soon we were inside. I still felt Us held up as a very scary house

In the Tribute Store we had to take some Ghostbusters wall pictures because of our shirts:


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We walked through Zombieland, and even saw a little bit of one show. (Which is the only one we ever caught walking through). I did like this one though, and the zombies were usually a tad more interactive coming away from this booth.
It did look like there were more props out this weekend, and I took some more pictures to document Zombieland since I felt like I hadn't been getting a lot of pictures in this scare zone most nights.



Josh got to meet the guy with laser eyes in Hellbilly Deluxe. :laughing:


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Then I got to meet Ryno from The Dis!

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So some of you might be familiar with the podcast boards on here, and The Dis/Dis Unplugged Youtube channels. I found these boards first (the trip reporting/planning ones) while I was planning my first trip, but started watching The Dis/Dis Unplugged around 2016 while planning for our second trip. After that I started watching some other Disney vloggers too, but they've always remained my favorite for Disney news/reviews/discussions. I think some of that is the personalities of the people on the show, and how they interact. And while I watch most of their shows, one of my favorites is the Universal show.

Most channels only cover Disney so I really enjoy that there's something out there for Universal fans as well, and they talk about HHN during the Halloween season. The Universal show is hosted by Ryno and Craig, and they are two of my favorite members of the Dis team. I find their reviews to be in depth and honest, and they always make me laugh. So it was pretty cool to be able to meet Ryno.


So as we were walking out of Hellbilly Deluxe, Josh said "hey isn't that the guy you watch on TV, Ryno?" And indeed it was. I decided to go up, and tell him I enjoyed the show. He told me they'd just come back from California, but he'd wanted to go to HHN that night, and we talked a little bit about our HHN favorites so far. He also said he liked our shirts. And I asked for a picture. He told me to check the picture, and make sure it came out which I'm very glad he did, because it did not come out at all so he suggested we move into better lighting. I was a little bit star struck, and usually am terribly awkward in situations like this, but he was really easy to talk to. I couldn't wait to show @CatNipRules I'd met him. (We both are fans of the show, and message each other about it when we watch :laughing:). I also tweeted about our night at HHN, and this night Ryno tweeted back that it was nice to meet us and he hoped we had fun. It was really nice to meet him, and he's just as nice in person as he seems on the show.

Alyssa and Zack aren't familiar with the podcast so mostly this whole thing just confused them, and they just thought I'd gone up to talk to a random person. :rotfl:

And apparently I lapsed in picture taking for a little bit here, but I know we waited for House of 1000 Corpses next (about 40 mins though it seemed like less) because Josh really wanted to do it. Zack and Alyssa hadn't seen any of this movie, and I'll admit it's a strange one without context, though they did all help me confirm the existence of the Pomeranian picture. This ended up being Josh's favorite, and we had a good run through again.

For those wondering about what the Pomeranian picture looked like that didn’t see it in my earlier post:


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(This is a famous sketch, and I'm pretty sure we had it on the walls of my house growing up because we had pet Pomeranians, so that's probably why I instantly recognized it.) :rotfl:

We went through Vikings Undead next:

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But had to stop for some S'mores Fries again. This time I shared with Zack and Alyssa, and they also had a Twisted Tater. They let me try some of their Twisted Tater, which was seasoned a lot more reasonably than the one I'd had the night before.

HHN Snack Review (Nights 4, 5, & 6)

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We waited in line about 35 minutes for Graveyard Games which was also great again, and I wish we got to go in it another time before the event ended. But with the long queue houses we stuck mostly to choosing one (or less) a night. (I'm going to do a full review/ranking at the end which is why I'm trying not to give too much detail in the posts).

We made a last stop at Killer Klowns! The wait was about 25 minutes, and it was much more pleasant waiting in line tonight. Not only were the lines shorter, but the weather was pleasantly cool. I believe this might be the point in playing Heads Up, that we switched to charades. Which went about as well as you can imagine :rotfl: I think we had to act out dusting for Zack to guess, and we completely failed at doing anything that even resembled dusting.


We had another good run through in Killer Klowns, and on the way out Josh decided to get the House of 1000 Corpses shirt. (Which reminds me I have to steal the House of 1000 Corpses shirt from him :laughing:). The line for the water taxi was long, and while we were in the outdoor portion it started to rain. Luckily, I had an umbrella, and since there was enough room, I offered to let the girl next to me step under it too. Which was fine, until she started arguing with her boyfriend with me in the middle. :rotfl: Luckily, it had stopped raining by then and water taxis were coming so I just kind of awkwardly moved away.



Back at the hotel we pretty much fell straight to sleep.

Next Up
The HHN crew takes on the Hagrid's line!


 
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Because we were the first people in line (and were in line during the first show, for the second show) they gave us these wristbands to make sure we were let in first. Only like 5 people got them so I said we were VIPs. :laughing:

Wow that's awesome. Glad this time worked out much better than the CP.

I managed to get a selfie before he had to go, but it didn't really work so well with me being short and him being on stage.

:rotfl: :rotfl: Makes a pretty cool picture though!

Now I think this was on par with the time Josh thought Jessie was Woody in a wig (apparently he's only seen the first Toy Story). Despite going to Disney as frequently as we do, Josh apparently also think Jiminy Cricket is a character in Dumbo. :lmao:

omg :rotfl::rotfl:Reminds me of Mike telling me at MVMCP that Prince Caspian was with Snow White lol

Then I got to meet Ryno from The Dis!

oo Awesome!!
The Universal show is hosted by Ryno and Craig, and they are two of my favorite members of the Dis team.

Mine too.

Alyssa and Zack aren't familiar with the podcast so mostly this whole thing just confused them, and they just thought I'd gone up to talk to a random person.

:rotfl::rotfl:

Luckily, I had an umbrella, and since there was enough room, I offered to let the girl next to me step under it too. Which was fine, until she started arguing with her boyfriend with me in the middle.

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I like the next one too without context :rotfl:
Yes! I had to go back and read what that was... and I agree :rotfl:

And we were front row!
Yay! I started reading this update yesterday, and I just wanted you to know that I've had Wonderful in my head for 24 hours now :laughing: :thumbsup2

I managed to get a selfie before he had to go, but it didn't really work so well with me being short and him being on stage. :rotfl:
But still... documented proof it happened! :thumbsup2

Josh shouts out "IT HAS A CRICKET IN IT!"
:rotfl2:

Now I think this was on par with the time Josh thought Jessie was Woody in a wig (apparently he's only seen the first Toy Story). Despite going to Disney as frequently as we do, Josh apparently also think Jiminy Cricket is a character in Dumbo. :lmao:
:rotfl2:

I also tweeted about our night at HHN (which I did every night), and this night Ryno tweeted back that it was nice to meet us and he hoped we had fun. It was really nice to meet him, and he's just as nice in person as he seems on the show.
That is so cool! The whole experience sounded amazing - and isn't it the best when awesome people confirm they're awesome in person, too :goodvibes

though they did all help me confirm the existence of the Pomeranian picture.
Phew! :thumbsup2:rotfl:

What we thought we looked like:

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What we actually looked like:

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:rotfl2: Been there!
 
Yay! I started reading this update yesterday, and I just wanted you to know that I've had Wonderful in my head for 24 hours now :laughing: :thumbsup2

I love it :laughing:

But still... documented proof it happened! :thumbsup2

Yes! That's what really matters :lmao:

That is so cool! The whole experience sounded amazing - and isn't it the best when awesome people confirm they're awesome in person, too :goodvibes

It was really awesome to meet him!

:rotfl2: Been there!

We're really good at charades :rotfl:
 
Hagrid's Coaster, The Worst Uber Ride Ever, & Our Last Night at HHN
September 20th

We started our day by meeting up with Alyssa and Zack to have lunch at Mythos.


Mythos Review

Our next stop after lunch was Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. I really wanted to try this ride since I'd heard so much about it, but was afraid the lines would be too long to do so. (At some points before we went lines would be 4+ hours). Luckily, today the weather was cooler so we decided we'd do it. I think the wait said 120 minutes, and we figured that's as good as we'd get.

We finally exhausted the Head's Up categories we wanted to play after many more rounds of charades in line. :rotfl:


My biggest concerns for the coaster were where do I put my phone, and will the drop be scary? Luckily, Zack had the perfect phone storing pockets, and though I braced myself the drop was not scary at all. :laughing: I took the sidecar while Josh rode the motorbike. For someone who doesn't love thrilling I'd have to say this wasn't quite my favorite coaster. (Remember I also thought Slinky Dog Dash was a little too thrilling). :rotfl:

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I heard a lot of good things about it before going on, but I thought it went a little fast, and because of that I missed a lot of details and story things. I think I'd have to go on it again to get those.

Afterwards we had to take a selfie to commemorate surviving Hagrid's, and only waiting an hour! I turned my phone's timer on while we were waiting, and our overall wait only ended up being about an hour.


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We walked around a bit, and ended up only going on one other ride which was Spiderman. Spiderman had a 25 minute wait, but it was more like 10 minutes.

On one of the desks they have a little tribute to Stan Lee which I thought was very sweet:


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After that we parted ways with Zack and Alyssa, and went back to our room. We had a dinner to get ready for!

Shula's Review

After dinner we had literally the worst Uber driver ever. We'd had a lot of strange rides and mishaps with Uber, and after we switched to exclusively using Lyft we haven't had as many problems. But we were going to the Hard Rock, and Lyft no longer drops off there so we called an Uber. I knew we were in for a treat when the guy brought up politics in the first minute of the ride.

He did not disappoint as he continued to rant about whatever came to mind. Including how he went into a pizza place, and saw them putting chocolate on a pizza and he yelled at them because as an Italian how could he not be offended? (As someone who is also Italian I've never taken such great offense to a dessert pizza). He also clacked his watch the ENTIRE ride, drove way too fast (yet this still seemed like the longest ride ever), and never stopped talking. I texted Alyssa the whole way to meet up with them, about the guy, so @amalone1013 if you remember any other stories about the guy feel free to chime in. :rotfl:

He capped off the ride by yelling through his open window to a larger man walking by: "Baby you a planet! Eat a salad! :confused3 And that ladies and gentlemen is our ride with Michael the worst Uber driver ever!

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We met Alyssa and Zack around 10 pm, and we all had EP tonight.



In the first hour we were able to do Ghostbusters (50 min wait, 10 with EP), Us (60 min wait, 10 with Ep), Yeti (50 min wait, 10 with EP), and Stranger Things (60 mins wait, 15 with EP). This was Josh's first time through Stranger Things. He felt like there were a lot more static props than scare actors. I saw some more effects than last time, but some scare actors from the last time were also missing. I liked the house better the second time, but it still didn't do the show justice in my opinion, and there was far too little of season 3. EP lines were really good tonight, and we got through them fast.

There seemed to be more scare actors in the houses this weekend too. We hadn't seen the keymaster before in Ghostbusters, and there seemed to be more people in Us too.


We made a last stop at the Tribute store.

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We never got anything from here, but my favorite is the one that says "She's our friend and she's crazy" on top. :rotfl:


Our last time in Hellbilly Deluxe we had to get more Rob Zombie throne pictures:


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We also went through House of 1000 Corpses one more time. (50 min wait, 15 min with EP). Josh was disappointed to see Dr Satan was not in the house tonight, but as always it was fun. The last house Josh had to see was Depths of Fear. (The wait was about 30-40 mins, and we waited 5-10 minutes). The house was okay, but again didn't impress me much.

One of our last stops was going to be Marathon of Mayhem since Josh hadn't seen it, but sadly he was developing a migraine and decided to go back to the room. I decided to stay out a little longer with Alyssa and Zack, and we watched the show:


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I really loved the show, and I wish I'd gotten to show it to Josh on one of our nights, but I was glad I got to see it again since the first time I spent mostly focused on filming it.

Finally our last stop was of course Killer Klowns:


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They were very interactive tonight, and we got some pictures:

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For Killer Klowns the wait was about 25-35 mins and we waited about 5-10 mins with EP. Killer Klowns was my favorite house, and while it was sad that this was our last time through it, I was thankful to have gotten the chance to go through my favorite house all 6 days I was at the event.

Sadly it was time to say goodbye to HHN 29.

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Goodbye HHN, I'll miss you greatly. :sad:

Can't wait for year 30 though! :hyper:




Overall rankings and opinions

Houses

1. Killer Klowns from Outerspace- This was obviously my favorite house and I thought it was perfect. I love the movie, and I loved the scare zone last year. I was hoping for this house before it was even announced, and I wasn't disappointed. I loved that they still had a photo op. I saw someone online complaining about scenes in the movie that were missing, but I don't think they missed anything significant. I loved the big puppets, the "knock your block off" guy, and the guy at the end that scared Samantha every time.

2. Us-A lot of people didn't like Us or felt the timing was off, but to me personally this was the scariest house because the movie terrified me. Maybe we just got lucky with our timing though. We did notice they seemed to add more scare actors in this house too throughout the event, but that might just be that we missed them because we were so scared the first time. :rotfl: Despite the fact that it creeps me out, I also love the score music that's in the house.

3. Ghostbusters-This house was really fun, and I loved the effects. Throughout the event it also seemed like they were adding characters too. I liked the library scene in the beginning a lot. The marshmallow smell was a lot more pleasant than Nightingales, and it was very detailed and true to the movie. And who doesn't love hearing the Ghostbusters theme on the way out?



4. Graveyard Games- This is one I think I would've done more if it wasn't one of those dreaded Kidzone queues. It was my favorite original, and I felt like the story was well fleshed out. The second time we went through was probably our best run through. And I liked the theming (ghosts/gothic cemetery).

5. House of 1000 Corpses-I was surprised to find I really liked this house after having it at the bottom of my list. While I don't like the movie, this translated to a really fun house. It was very detailed, not as gritty as I thought, and had a cool facade. We did miss certain characters on some run throughs, but overall had fun every time we went through.

6. Universal Monsters-This might have been higher, but both times we went through I felt like we missed a lot of scares. I still like that they did a house for the Universal Monsters, and I would've gone in it more if it wasn't the other Kidzone queue. The Dracula section was my favorite, but a lot of the monsters looked really cool.

7. Yeti-I thought this house was pretty scary. The characters were cool and the house was detailed.

8. Stranger Things- I love the show, but was strongly disappointed by this house. There was a lot more static parts than scare actors. As I've mentioned before I think the decision to include season 3 was strange because there was hardly any of it in there. I loved season 3, so that was pretty disappointing. Specific characters would be in there some nights, but missing the next.

9. Depths of Fear- As I said before for this house I felt like the monsters looked like angular fish. It was a cool concept, but didn't land for me.

10. Nightingales-Will go down for me as the house that smelled awful inside. The outside was honestly the best part of this house. I felt it was forgettable, there was no story, and the creatures weren't really scary.

Scare Zones

1. Hellbilly Deluxe-This one also surprised me by being my favorite. It was kind of like being inside a little concert. I do enjoy the music on Hellbilly Deluxe, but I didn't expect to like this zone so much. There were a lot of cool photo ops, and interesting characters. I liked the Living Dead Girl show a lot, and of course the dancing robot guy.



2. Vikings Undead- I did like the previous scare zones in this area better with the pumpkins in the trees, but thought this was one was still cool. The sound effects and characters were cool, but after the first weekend I noticed certain scare actors seemed to be missing a lot, and sometimes we'd walk through and there'd be almost no scare actors in the zone.

3. Vanity Ball-I thought this scare zone was fun, but I'm still not entirely convinced the plastic surgery shows and the runway show went together completely. The runway show was my favorite part. The characters were a lot of fun though, and we saw shows going on most nights when we walked through.

4. Anarchade- This scare zone was not what I thought based on the press release before the event. The neon was fun, but not great for pictures (with my camera at least). This was definitely a scare zone that only worked at night too. It also just wasn't scary, and I felt like there was already enough chainsaw guys out where this scare zone didn't need to have them too.

5. Zombieland-The different kinds of zombies was creative, but this scare zone just fell flat for me. I watched the movie beforehand, and liked it, but I seemed to always be in the zone at a time where I missed all the character shows. I saw the one with Tallahassee once and liked it, but that was it. The zombies blended in with the people (some seemed to have almost no makeup on in the dark), and not in a scary way.

Other

Merch
- There was a good selection this year, and I liked more of it than I thought I would. I didn't love the main HHN themed merch, but the stuff for the individual houses was awesome. I hated that the Tribute Store could be too packed to move sometimes, but I loved the themed rooms, and we never missed going through it any night.

Academy of Villains- I thought this show was fun, but felt disconnected. It seemed like a greatest hits show more than a new show. I actually really liked last year's because I felt like it had more of a story. I also felt like this show didn't utilize a lot of their more talented dancers, but it did have good music.

Marathon of Mayhem- This show was amazing! Never crowded, the perfect length, and a lot of fun.

Killer Klowns (which kind of counts as a mini scare zone)-I loved that they included a little photo op since some houses don't even have facades to photograph. The klowns were fun and interactive, but I do wish they didn't rush people through as fast in this one since our pictures didn't always come out.

Snacks- This is the first year we tried more snacks, and what we had was mostly really good. I wasn't a fan of the drink I had or the overly seasoned Twisted Tater, but the S'mores Fries were delicious, and I liked the normal Twisted Tater I had.

HHN Snack Reviews (Days 1, 2, & 3)

HHN Snack Reviews (Days 4, 5, & 6)

Waits-The first day (Friday) was pretty crazy, Saturday was actually calmer than I thought (lower waits than Friday), Sunday and Wednesday weren't bad at all, and neither was Thursday. The final Friday also had pretty long waits, but we had EP so it didn't matter. I think next year depending on how many nights we go we may get the ticket with EP for all the nights. But I'd actually say Fridays were the busiest this year (that we saw).

Next Up
Our last day!



 
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(Remember I also thought Slinky Dog Dash was a little too thrilling). :rotfl:
You and me both! :rotfl:

And that ladies and gentlemen is our ride with Michael the worst Uber driver ever!
You were NOT exaggerating! I cannot believe the planet comment, how terrible. And you’ve had your share of bad experiences, but this was def the worst from what I remember :sad2:

So glad you got to see your favorite houses so much! Maybe someday I’ll work up the nerve to go... :rolleyes1
 
You and me both! :rotfl:

I'm glad someone else agrees :rotfl:

You were NOT exaggerating! I cannot believe the planet comment, how terrible. And you’ve had your share of bad experiences, but this was def the worst from what I remember :sad2:

So glad you got to see your favorite houses so much! Maybe someday I’ll work up the nerve to go... :rolleyes1

He was a nightmare :laughing: . You should go! Samantha said it really wasn't as scary as she thought, and she ended up loving it.
 
Real Life Update

Hey guys, I promise I didn't abandon this TR! (I'm working on the last day post right after I type this). I had a really bad cold for a little over a week so I basically didn't do anything (besides watch TV, I'm now caught up on pretty much every show I watch, and I've watched all of Veronica Mars :rotfl:) , and then it was Christmas!
Before that happened I'd planned to start a PTR for these life updates, but since I didn't get a chance to, I'm putting this one in here. (I will be starting my PTR for our 2020 trips this week though because I got the approval for my vacation.
Here’s a photo dump from the last month:

Thanksgiving at my dad's:


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Our freak early snow day where we got 2 feet of snow, and I still had to go to work. :laughing:

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Our Christmas tree:

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If you remember our Cali trip from earlier this year where we visited Jabcecc and met the domesticated foxes since then they've opened their official center, and they sent us a Christmas card which I thought was so sweet.

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We had Christmas Eve/Christmas Day at my dad's house:

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Where we watched Lifetime movies and sang karaoke.


My dad's camera is much better, and he took some very photogenic pictures of us in front of the tree. (I'm going to update my phone in the next few months, and I'm hoping to get an iPhone 11 Pro so the pictures and videos for my next trip look a lot better).


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Oh Raeven that’s quite an update!!!

Hope you’re feeling much better now, having a cold sucks, especially this time of year.......glad you managed to rest up though!

Lovely pictures as always and Thanksgiving look so good.......love the Slytherin look and the pictures of your family are lovely......really lovely.....you look such a nice family, and best wishes to your bother in the Military......

Oh I love Mambo no 5 too!!! I’m hearing it in my head now.....lol......

Nice to see you back, lovely update........ :wave2:
 
The Last Day
September 21

On our last day we decided to skip the parks, and do a few last minute things we never got to. One of those things was taking a trip to Disney Springs.

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To get the poutine I get every trip:


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And some lunch:

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Daily Poutine & Dluxe Burger Review

We also did A LOT of shopping. :rotfl:



I got some makeup at Sephora, we grabbed Josh's soap at Basin, there was a shirt he wanted to get in Uniqlo, I grabbed some licorice at the candy store for my dad, and Josh stocked up on Erin Mckenna's for the trip home.

Since it was a Saturday even Disney Springs was a little bit packed though. World of Disney was so crowded I could barely move around. I did think this Oogie Boogie was cute, but the lines were on the longer side so I didn't get anything.


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I'd seen a lot of cute Disney stuff around the parks, but nothing I absolutely had to have; which is good because I think I bought half the HHN merch.

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Of course Josh had to grab a pair of socks from Stance too:
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When we got back to Universal we still had some time, so we decided to walk over to Cabana Bay, and check out the Stranger Things pop up. It was a pretty slow moving line, and I think we waited about a half hour. Any guest of a Universal hotel was welcome to try this pop up. I think it was a really cool idea, but I did feel a little rushed once we were inside compared to how long other groups in front of us got.


This backdrop was my favorite, and we got some really cool pictures here. They took a video too, but I wish they told us it was going to be a video because if you can tell in the vlog I didn't know to move because I thought we were taking a picture. :rotfl:


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All in all it was pretty cool, and I hope they offer more things like this in the future. After that we walked back to Sapphire Falls, and decided we had time to run one more quick errand....

Grab some Voodoo Doughnuts to go!


I was a little worried that it would take too much time to do this, and we'd cut it too close to when we had to leave for the airport, but the water taxis were very timely, and we made it. I got 2 Portland Creams, and a vampire doughnut, and my first Voodoo Doughnut box! I will say though the Portland Creams didn't keep super well (by the next day they were kind of icky), but the vampire one was still good.
We made it to the airport and through security non-eventfully, and had about an hour to spare before boarding.
Goodbye Orlando we had an amazing trip! :wave2:


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On the flight home I went through the pictures, listened to music, and watched a little Southwest TV. We had clear skies all the way, and got home around 10:30 pm.

I can't remember if I posted this before, but here's our two HHN cups from when we got home:


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Next Up
I'll post a wrap up of our trip!




 
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