We went to HHN on Friday October 5th, the first night. We were lucky enough to reserve a spot on the VIP tour for this night and got Mark as our tour guide. There were about 6 different tours that night with 9 or so people per tour. This was our 2nd year doing HHN and will probably never do it again the regular way....we will definitely opt for the VIP tour again! If you have the chance to do it this way, go for it. It is much more enjoyable and I think a very good value. Here are my opinons of the haunted houses/attractions.
1. ScaryTales:
Very well done, the lines seemed to get quite long for this so if you are not on VIP you will probably want to do this first along with Pitch Black. There are some very creepy elements to this house and good detail, however Universal does have a tendency to leave some of the mechanisms of the automatic displays totally in full view in enough light that you can see how they work. They should try to hide the mechanics a little better so that it is more startling. This seemed to occur in more than 1 house.
2. Pitch Black:
Not bad...it is a good concept, but my wife and I agreed it could have been a lot darker in here. Much of it has open ceilings and light gets in. I don't know if they wanted to strike a balance between darkness and safety, but it was pretty scary and disorienting for the most part.
3. The Mummy
Pretty lame. There were some interesting scenes, but not too many actors in here and again, many of the mechanics of some automated props were in full view, pretty much ruining a very expensive prop. Some very good costumes though, and some neat details.
4. Superstitions
Along with ScaryTales, one of the best in our opinion. Good detail in this one as well plus some decent scares.
5. Run
Not very good at all. I think some of our dissapointment with this is that they seemed to be letting too many people in at 1 time and it was really jammed up in there. Not very scary, but I think it would have been fun if you actually could run through it and bash into the actors, which is the impression that we had from the description we had heard.
OTHER ATTRACTIONS:
Ooze Zone Night Club:
Again, a fun sounding idea, but when we went in we were thinking we would be covered in foam. Instead, the had 3 areas set up with foam dribbling out of the machines, once 5-6 people got in, the foam deflated and you had to wait for more foam to be made. Kind of silly, and we didn't stay too long here.
The Parade:
Very good this year we thought. Seemed longer than last year and many more floats. We caught a lot of beads, and really enjoyed this.
Dangerous D'Illusions Magic Show:
Dubbed the Michael Bolton Magic Show by our tour guide, this was very weak. I am a huge magic fan & I was embarrased for Franz Hararry during this show. I thought his only good effect came at the end, even though it was not very complicated for any amateur magician to figure out, it seemed to suprise the audience. Don't feel you have missed anything if you skip this.
Bill & Ted:
My wife & I loved this show! This was our first time seeing B&T, so I understand how some may not have liked it if they have seen it year after year, but I think it was a very fun show and it was VERY well received by the audience. I will not give anything away, but you should certainly plan to see this. I am sorry we missed it last year, but the lines for the houses were so long we couldn't do everything. This is why we loved the VIP tour so much.
Scare Zones:
Pretty standard stuff.
All in all, we had a blast. I will say the the next night we did Howl-O-Scream at BGT, also on a VIP tour and I think that if you could combine the two somehow, you would be well on your way to really having a top of the line event. It seemed that BGT goes more in the direction of a plot for the house, and that really makes a difference, instead of just scares where people jump out & go boo, there is a real reason for them to be in the house and doing what they are doing. If any of you did the Insane Asylum, you know what I mean. BGT's shows were very weak though. R.I.P. TV is a very poor copycat of B&T, and the other show they had is a Beetlegeuse type review that was pretty lame too. I would love to see Universal take a cue from BGT and put some real thought into their designs and really make it a terrifying event.
Any questions let me know, but my main tip is DO SIGN UP FOR VIP IF YOU HAVE A CHANCE! If you are used to FOTL access with your HRH or Portifino stay, you will know how enjoyable this makes your whole stay!
Chris
1. ScaryTales:
Very well done, the lines seemed to get quite long for this so if you are not on VIP you will probably want to do this first along with Pitch Black. There are some very creepy elements to this house and good detail, however Universal does have a tendency to leave some of the mechanisms of the automatic displays totally in full view in enough light that you can see how they work. They should try to hide the mechanics a little better so that it is more startling. This seemed to occur in more than 1 house.
2. Pitch Black:
Not bad...it is a good concept, but my wife and I agreed it could have been a lot darker in here. Much of it has open ceilings and light gets in. I don't know if they wanted to strike a balance between darkness and safety, but it was pretty scary and disorienting for the most part.
3. The Mummy
Pretty lame. There were some interesting scenes, but not too many actors in here and again, many of the mechanics of some automated props were in full view, pretty much ruining a very expensive prop. Some very good costumes though, and some neat details.
4. Superstitions
Along with ScaryTales, one of the best in our opinion. Good detail in this one as well plus some decent scares.
5. Run
Not very good at all. I think some of our dissapointment with this is that they seemed to be letting too many people in at 1 time and it was really jammed up in there. Not very scary, but I think it would have been fun if you actually could run through it and bash into the actors, which is the impression that we had from the description we had heard.
OTHER ATTRACTIONS:
Ooze Zone Night Club:
Again, a fun sounding idea, but when we went in we were thinking we would be covered in foam. Instead, the had 3 areas set up with foam dribbling out of the machines, once 5-6 people got in, the foam deflated and you had to wait for more foam to be made. Kind of silly, and we didn't stay too long here.
The Parade:
Very good this year we thought. Seemed longer than last year and many more floats. We caught a lot of beads, and really enjoyed this.
Dangerous D'Illusions Magic Show:
Dubbed the Michael Bolton Magic Show by our tour guide, this was very weak. I am a huge magic fan & I was embarrased for Franz Hararry during this show. I thought his only good effect came at the end, even though it was not very complicated for any amateur magician to figure out, it seemed to suprise the audience. Don't feel you have missed anything if you skip this.
Bill & Ted:
My wife & I loved this show! This was our first time seeing B&T, so I understand how some may not have liked it if they have seen it year after year, but I think it was a very fun show and it was VERY well received by the audience. I will not give anything away, but you should certainly plan to see this. I am sorry we missed it last year, but the lines for the houses were so long we couldn't do everything. This is why we loved the VIP tour so much.
Scare Zones:
Pretty standard stuff.
All in all, we had a blast. I will say the the next night we did Howl-O-Scream at BGT, also on a VIP tour and I think that if you could combine the two somehow, you would be well on your way to really having a top of the line event. It seemed that BGT goes more in the direction of a plot for the house, and that really makes a difference, instead of just scares where people jump out & go boo, there is a real reason for them to be in the house and doing what they are doing. If any of you did the Insane Asylum, you know what I mean. BGT's shows were very weak though. R.I.P. TV is a very poor copycat of B&T, and the other show they had is a Beetlegeuse type review that was pretty lame too. I would love to see Universal take a cue from BGT and put some real thought into their designs and really make it a terrifying event.
Any questions let me know, but my main tip is DO SIGN UP FOR VIP IF YOU HAVE A CHANCE! If you are used to FOTL access with your HRH or Portifino stay, you will know how enjoyable this makes your whole stay!
Chris
