Halloween Horror Nights 2013

[TaylorsDad]

AWIL was so great for us that nothing else came close. Our second and third favorites was Llorona and Cabin in the Woods because scares and timing were great. The only house we were disappointed in was Havoc derailed, it just wasn't up to par with the other houses. Overall this was my way better than HHN 2010 which was my only other HHN visit.

 

[goofyfigment]

Thanks everyone. Metro I wasn't a fan of twd last year either. So based on macs plan it sounds like I should be able to get at least 4 of them done before the crowds. The extended the hours til 2 so I'm trying to make the best plan before the crowds hit! You guys rock and next year I'll be there with yas

 

[Cais]

Thanks everyone. Metro I wasn't a fan of twd last year either. So based on macs plan it sounds like I should be able to get at least 4 of them done before the crowds. The extended the hours til 2 so I'm trying to make the best plan before the crowds hit! You guys rock and next year I'll be there with yas

I haven't watched walking dead at all and last year was quite disappointed with the house, but it's much better this year. I'd put it in my top three along with werewolf and cabin.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[macraven]

I haven't watched walking dead at all and last year was quite disappointed with the house, but it's much better this year. I'd put it in my top three along with werewolf and cabin.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

last year wd was awful for me.
this year, just the opposite.

i did the UTH day tours, both of them, and cabin had so many details in it, i went crazy taking pictures in it.

going thru the house congo style, i missed a lot of those added touches.

on the 13th, cabin, awil and wd had crazy wait lines.
at mid evening, the regular line had a posting of 80 minutes, wd was up to 115 minutes.
yea i had the express but it took 25 minutes in line at wd to get thru it.

crowds usually grow thru the month.
i'm curious on how the lines will be this week/end for the houses.

 

[Metro West]

Thanks everyone. Metro I wasn't a fan of twd last year either. So based on macs plan it sounds like I should be able to get at least 4 of them done before the crowds. The extended the hours til 2 so I'm trying to make the best plan before the crowds hit! You guys rock and next year I'll be there with yas

I'm just not a fan of zombies...never have been and I wish HHN would move away from featuring zombies every single year. It's getting really old now.

 

[goofyfigment]

Mac I'll post on the 24th about the crowds that night. Hopefully I can pull this off....

 

[schumigirl]

I'm just not a fan of zombies...never have been and I wish HHN would move away from featuring zombies every single year. It's getting really old now.

Yep us too........the zombies just became very blah this year. Did enjoy most of the houses though.

Tom said if it's the same theme next year he doesn't want to bother with horror nights again so I really hope they up their game and come up with something new.

 

[Metro West]

Tom said if it's the same theme next year he doesn't want to bother with horror nights again so I really hope they up their game and come up with something new.

I tell ya...If next years' "theme" is lacking again, I may just get a single night ticket and be done with it. HHN is getting too expensive so I won't be doing any extras like Express or the tours and the event is not ringing my bell like it did years ago.

 

[snykymom]

Ok... Quick question for those of you who have already been....


I'm bringing my wife with me to the event this year for her first HHN. She's not a huge horror or haunted house type person. With all the licensed houses this year, I'm wondering if the fact she hasn't seen most of the source material would cause an issue with her ability to enjoy the event?

With our EXTREMELY limited time available which we can use to watch any source material (movies, or TV Shows), Is there any opinion on if she'll be fine not knowing the original when she visits a house? or maybe a list of houses, movies, or Walking Dead Episodes, which we should try and find the time for her to watch before attending so she isn't completely lost?


(With walking dead, I've now seen everything up thru the end of Season 3, and she understands the idea behind Zombies... so I might be able to help bring her up to speed on any details that people think might help. I'm wondering though if I should have her watch Cabin in the Woods considering how "odd" that movie was, so depending on how they did the house it might be osmething to help her not end up completely confused....)

I haven't seen a single one of the source material movies or video games. Never seen an episode of Walking Dead - no interest, although I too get the idea behind zombies. I went into 7 of the 8 houses, and had a blast! Before entering, our tour guide gave us a brief synopsis of what the source material was about (virus turning people into zombies, mother drowning her children, etc.) and that was enough. Perhaps you could do that with your wife as well.

 

[LMichelleee]

I meant to post weeks ago but completely forgot! I think I'm still having vacation withdraws because thinking about HHN makes me really sad!

We went to HHN September 26-28, Friday-Sunday. Even going this early we noticed the crowds were much bigger. I want to say last year we did all the houses by 9 and that was in October! This time all three nights we ended up staying til 11:30.

Over the three nights we were able to do all the houses and we did our favorites multiple times. Our favorites were AWIL, CITW, TWD, LaL, RE. We did not like/repeat Afterlife or Havoc. BF liked Evil Dead, but I didn't for my own personal reasons so we didn't repeat that one either.

We didn't do Bill & Teds, but loved Rocky Horror Tribute.

I also really enjoyed the scare zones this year! I had the most fun just walking around these areas seeing people get scared, and of course getting scared ourselves. We found it much scarier and better than last year. We will definitely be back next year, probably late September again. We saved so much money by going earlier!

For anyone wondering if you should watch stuff so you'll understand better, do it. You're spending a lot of money and you should get the full experience. I really wish I would have watched some of The Walking Dead. Everything seemed very well themed and I feel I would have appreciated it more if I knew what was going on. Same goes for CITW, I am so glad I watched that one. I would have left that house so confused and it probably wouldn't have been my favorite!

 

[Tizzy_Meliss]

Just wanted to thank Metro for his mapped out plan on how to tackle the houses. I went last night and it worked out great! My experience will be brief since I'm mobile. Showed up at Finnegans by 4:15 and it was standing room only. No matter as long as I had a beer I was fine not having a table. They let us out at 5:45. Followed Metros advice for the order of the houses, only flaw was that US let everyone in the gates at 6, not 6:30. I was able to knock out 4 houses by 8 and that was without EP. Longest wait of the night for us was 110 minutes for WD. Another long wait time seemed to be Cabin in the Woods. Lucky for me that took 20 minutes because we knocked it out early. For Hell week it wasn't at all that bad.

Thanks for the advice here!

 

[DOOM1001]

Well I went on Wednesday and stayed in the Stay and Scream area where they let us out around 5:40.It did not start out well as apparently the Werewolf in London was the only house open,ridiculous to only have one open as it was the longest wait for first house I've probably ever done since I always do S&S.Lines overall were not short but not horrible.I NEVER buy express and was able to do all the houses and both shows.I am however pretty commando about my touring and we got the last house of the night in by about 10 seconds as they closed the line right behind us at the ridiculously early midnight closing time.I thought non peak nights closed at 1am,or at least the last couple of years have been that way.Overall there were some good houses and 2-3 lame ones,the walkers all over the streets were good but I found the event pretty disorganized and I don't like the cost cutting of only one house open early along with the early closing time.Event maps were also hard to come across,they gave some out at the holding area but eventually ran out.Overall 6.5/10 for this year.

 

[Marquibiri]

Sup all! Have been away from the boards for almost two weeks now!!!

Back to reality!!!

I should be posting my Unmasking The Horror Tour pics soon as I've done in previous years.

I stick with AWIL as my favorite!
Followed by Evil Dead, Cabin, TWD, La Llorona, Resident Evil, and the so so houses (Life and Havoc).

Cheers!

Marquibiri

 

[ckelly10]

Me and my other half went to HHN last year for the first time and it was amazing. The only thing I would say we didn't enjoy was the massive ques to get into the houses, on average we was waiting 80-90 minutes. I loved how the universal grounds are filled with smoke and there are scary characters walking around - the chainsaw ones were really cool. Its actually quite depressing really as I have just been to a 'haunted house' which was promoting itself as the best in the UK or something and everyone was raving about how good it was. All I could think was this is nothing on the ones I went to in Universal.

I loved the Zombie theme but I could see how this could get old if you went every year.

 

[MRAven]

We did it last night and had a wanderfull time, enjoyed it every minute.

Thank you Metro West and to Macraven and everyone else with their tips.

I liked all houses and scare zones, each with it's own individuallity and I think it depends on the flow you choose for your first visit.

I must say Express Pass is a must, I almost felt sorry for the ppl on that side of the line. Almost.

Halloween Horror Nights XXIII is a great event and I recomend it.

 

[PatsGirl]

.Overall there were some good houses and 2-3 lame ones,the walkers all over the streets were good but I found the event pretty disorganized and I don't like the cost cutting of only one house open early along with the early closing time.Event maps were also hard to come across,they gave some out at the holding area but eventually ran out.Overall 6.5/10 for this year.

This was our first and last year doing HHN. I am Type A organized and had all my information from the boards to help us along. We also did S&S at Finnegans on Thursday 10/10 but they didn't seat us until 5:15 for a 4:45 reservation and so we got a late start right away. I believe it was a 40 minute wait at the first house and then we only did one more because the lines were upwards to 60 minutes and more.

We did enjoy the zombies and the Bill & Ted show but for $41 over and above our regular pass it just wasn't worth it. I'm not sure how we could have made it any easier/better (other than paying for an express pass) to make it worth the $$. Well, if Finnegans hadn't messed up our seating that would have made a difference I'm sure but enough of one?

 

[macraven]

MRAven ........
great time, huh...........go again, go again!


totally agree that the express pass shortens those line waits.






Marco, let's see those pics!!
you have been missed on these boards.

 

[RobynDunk]

My 16 year old daughter & I will be at HHR nights on the 23rd - we fly in that day. We have express passes but will not be in the park that day (going to IoA on the 24th), so we won't be in early.

Just reading that this Wednesday is Hell Week. So what should we do to make this a great fun night! DD & I both love The Walking Dead, she is a fan of Cabin in the Woods and Evil Dead. I want to do some of the rides - Mummy & Transformers.

What would be our best course of action, what should we plan to miss if we have to?

We have never been to Universial - so don't want to miss something just because I did not do my homework!!!

Thanks,

 

[macraven]

i would concentrate on the houses and do the rides if you have time.

at the end of the evening, before closing, if you are in a line for a house or ride, you will be able to finish it even if the park has closed then.

if the park closes at 1:00 am and you are in line at 12:58, that house/ride continues to stay open until all in the line have gone through.

 

[MRAven]

MRAven ........
great time, huh...........go again, go again!


totally agree that the express pass shortens those line waits.

Will defenatly do it again. I forgot to mention that it does help if you have seen the movies.