DDuck4Life
DIS Dad #649
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2011
Day 7 Continued: HHN 26 Part 1
I’m here to cover my time at HHN 26. I won’t bore you with a ton of details and information since I know this is not most people’s cup of tea so if you want more information or my thoughts on something specific let me know and I’ll be happy to elaborate.
Your host for the evening, Chance
Oct 07-092 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Oct 07-093 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Oct 07-111 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
After walking the family out I decided to head over to Finnegan’s to wait until the event opened. I thought about other areas but Finnegan’s is the best area with shade and spots to sit while waiting. While waiting I decided to talk to a team member who seemed to be knowledgeable of the event and was offering advice to those passing by I decide to chat him up about strategies for starting out the night. I had an idea of what I wanted to do but this was only my second time staying in the park for the early access to the houses. Depending on which area you were waiting in determined what houses you would have access to before the whole event opened to the public. Starting in Finnegan’s I would have access to The Exorcist and The Walking Dead houses opening early. The Exorcist opened at 5:45 and the Walking Dead at 6PM.
I should probably mention here that I was not going to be alone the whole night. My Dad was coming to join me but since he did not have a park ticket for the day he would be showing up later. I had planned to try and hit as many houses as I could working my way to the front of the park to meet up with him.
I went to The Exorcist first since it was opening first then hit The Walking Dead. There was a rope and Team Members blocking the area between where we were and the group that was allowed into American Horror Story so you were not allowed to jump over to that until the event officially started and everyone was let in. Which was a bit of a bummer and had AHS been my top priority I would have changed my plans up a little. But I’m not a huge AHS fan and have only seen bits and pieces of each season while DW was watching so I somewhat knew the characters and settings but not as much as the other IP houses.
I had managed to hit the first 2 houses that were opened to me and by 6:15 I was at the front of the park and heading towards the line for AHS.
Oct 07-106 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
The wait time said 60min. I was hoping it was an over estimation based on the amount of people flooding in but a common trend of the night none of the posted wait times were correct for the houses and most were severely underestimated. My dad had anticipated getting there around 7PM so I really didn’t want to walk farther into the park so I decided to take my chances on being able to get this house done before he arrived and worse case I would just jump out of line.
A lot people were leaving the que as I was walking in so I knew it must be bad and when I walked in the line and amount of switch backs was enormous, but the line was moving fairly well. I would later chalk that up to people getting fed up and jumping out of line. I figured I was already ahead of the game, had hit two houses a scare zone and just needed to kill some time before my dad showed up so I stuck it out in line.
Universal must have realized how long the waits would be and were playing a video for everyone in the que. It was an overview of all the houses/scare zones and the details that went into designing them and creating them and the trailer for each house. It was very interesting to watch so I didn’t mind waiting and watching.
While in line I started chatting with a couple from Canada that was behind me. This was their first HHN and they were not exactly sure what they got their selves into with this. We talked about HHN I tried to offer some tips and things to make sure they saw during the night. Side note I actually ran into them later in the night while they were standing off to the side trying to decide what to do next. Chances of that happening seemed slim to none with how many people were there and how big the park is but it was cool non the less to run into them again and say hi again. Seemed like they were enjoying their night so far. But while we were talking my dad had actually arrived early and was walking into the park now. I still had a lot of line left to go even after waiting 30minutes so I decided to jump out of line and go meet him. I told my new Canadian friends my time was up, I was leaving to meet up with my dad, and they even offered to hold my spot in line so I could go get him and come back. While a nice offer line jumping that far into the que 30 Minutes + is not something I would do. My Dad and I both had express passes for the night so I was not worried about having to wait in line again for the house.
I hopped out of line and the wait time was already up to 120 minutes and looking at the number of people and how long we waited in other lines that might have been a conservative number.
Putting AHS at the front of the park was not the best idea if they wanted to help control the line building up. Since this was the first house you can to the majority of the people that entered the park went straight here. This did help with crowds for the first couple of hours, the rest of the park felt very empty with plenty of room to move around because most of the people were sucked into the line for AHS. As more and more people were able to go through the house and fill out the rest of the park you could tell it was a packed Friday night at HHN.
With my dad and I ready to get our scare on we avoided the masses going to AHS and went to the right toward Krampus and the Vamp 55 scare zone.
Oct 07-091 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Oct 07-129 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
I really enjoyed Krampus house nicely done and followed the movie really well. Even the Vamp 55 scare zone was nicely done and the scareactors looked and fit their area very well. What I love the most is that when the scareactors see you with a camera they will really play up to it a pose for you to get the shots you want then move on resuming scaring random people walking by.
Oct 07-095 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Oct 07-096 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Something I noticed the past two years is how willing they are to pose for candid shots and even meet and greet style shots or selfies. It was here in the Vamp, scare zone I actually ran into Mark Willard. I caught him out the corner of my eye when we were walking through and had to stop and say high. If you’ve never seen any of his photography I highly recommend you go and check out his work. The man takes some phenomenal photos. I didn’t get to talk much to him I could see he was in full photography mode trying to get as many shots in before he lost the twilight as the sun was going down rapidly at this point. I introduced myself and praised his work like a fan boy. He was super nice and wanted to know where I followed him online and what my user names were. It really was a nice surprise to run into him and a geek moment for the photographer in me.
After probably boring you with more mundane details than needed I’ll jump into more highlights and thoughts on the event.
Houses: My favorite houses were the ones that I was able to watch the movies of most recently. My recommendation for anyone going is to watch the movies of the IP houses before you go. I really enjoyed Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Exorcist, Krampus, and Ghost Town(more for the details and scenes than scares). I feel these were my favorites solely because I was able to watch these movies before going and all the scenes from the movie were fresh in my mind and I really connected with how well they designed these house to follow and emulate the movies. Texas Chainsaw more so than the rest the details felt like you were walking through the house in the movie. My favorite scene/effect for the houses was the sliding metal door that leather face comes out from. You had the visual and sound effect all together here to make it feel real and extra scary.
Oct 07-097 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Oct 07-098 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
The only houses that I did not care for were Lunatics Playground 3D: You Don’t Stand A Chance and Tomb of the Ancients. The 3D house I just don’t like any of the 3D houses The bright vibrant colors and strobe effects and having to wear the cheap paper glasses automatically puts the hose at the bottom add to the fact there were no good scares for me and it just falls to the bottom of my list. Tomb of the Ancients I’m not sure what they were going for with the house but it just misses the mark for me. After going through the house once when we came back around and there was no wait for it I almost didn’t even want to go back through it was just bland. While they did have some interesting scenes I really have no idea the look or feel they were going for and it was almost comical some of the cheesiness of the scenes. I wanted to laugh more than I was scared in this house.
Up Next: More HHN
I’m here to cover my time at HHN 26. I won’t bore you with a ton of details and information since I know this is not most people’s cup of tea so if you want more information or my thoughts on something specific let me know and I’ll be happy to elaborate.
Your host for the evening, Chance
Oct 07-092 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Oct 07-093 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Oct 07-111 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
After walking the family out I decided to head over to Finnegan’s to wait until the event opened. I thought about other areas but Finnegan’s is the best area with shade and spots to sit while waiting. While waiting I decided to talk to a team member who seemed to be knowledgeable of the event and was offering advice to those passing by I decide to chat him up about strategies for starting out the night. I had an idea of what I wanted to do but this was only my second time staying in the park for the early access to the houses. Depending on which area you were waiting in determined what houses you would have access to before the whole event opened to the public. Starting in Finnegan’s I would have access to The Exorcist and The Walking Dead houses opening early. The Exorcist opened at 5:45 and the Walking Dead at 6PM.
I should probably mention here that I was not going to be alone the whole night. My Dad was coming to join me but since he did not have a park ticket for the day he would be showing up later. I had planned to try and hit as many houses as I could working my way to the front of the park to meet up with him.
I went to The Exorcist first since it was opening first then hit The Walking Dead. There was a rope and Team Members blocking the area between where we were and the group that was allowed into American Horror Story so you were not allowed to jump over to that until the event officially started and everyone was let in. Which was a bit of a bummer and had AHS been my top priority I would have changed my plans up a little. But I’m not a huge AHS fan and have only seen bits and pieces of each season while DW was watching so I somewhat knew the characters and settings but not as much as the other IP houses.
I had managed to hit the first 2 houses that were opened to me and by 6:15 I was at the front of the park and heading towards the line for AHS.
Oct 07-106 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
The wait time said 60min. I was hoping it was an over estimation based on the amount of people flooding in but a common trend of the night none of the posted wait times were correct for the houses and most were severely underestimated. My dad had anticipated getting there around 7PM so I really didn’t want to walk farther into the park so I decided to take my chances on being able to get this house done before he arrived and worse case I would just jump out of line.
A lot people were leaving the que as I was walking in so I knew it must be bad and when I walked in the line and amount of switch backs was enormous, but the line was moving fairly well. I would later chalk that up to people getting fed up and jumping out of line. I figured I was already ahead of the game, had hit two houses a scare zone and just needed to kill some time before my dad showed up so I stuck it out in line.
Universal must have realized how long the waits would be and were playing a video for everyone in the que. It was an overview of all the houses/scare zones and the details that went into designing them and creating them and the trailer for each house. It was very interesting to watch so I didn’t mind waiting and watching.
While in line I started chatting with a couple from Canada that was behind me. This was their first HHN and they were not exactly sure what they got their selves into with this. We talked about HHN I tried to offer some tips and things to make sure they saw during the night. Side note I actually ran into them later in the night while they were standing off to the side trying to decide what to do next. Chances of that happening seemed slim to none with how many people were there and how big the park is but it was cool non the less to run into them again and say hi again. Seemed like they were enjoying their night so far. But while we were talking my dad had actually arrived early and was walking into the park now. I still had a lot of line left to go even after waiting 30minutes so I decided to jump out of line and go meet him. I told my new Canadian friends my time was up, I was leaving to meet up with my dad, and they even offered to hold my spot in line so I could go get him and come back. While a nice offer line jumping that far into the que 30 Minutes + is not something I would do. My Dad and I both had express passes for the night so I was not worried about having to wait in line again for the house.
I hopped out of line and the wait time was already up to 120 minutes and looking at the number of people and how long we waited in other lines that might have been a conservative number.
Putting AHS at the front of the park was not the best idea if they wanted to help control the line building up. Since this was the first house you can to the majority of the people that entered the park went straight here. This did help with crowds for the first couple of hours, the rest of the park felt very empty with plenty of room to move around because most of the people were sucked into the line for AHS. As more and more people were able to go through the house and fill out the rest of the park you could tell it was a packed Friday night at HHN.
With my dad and I ready to get our scare on we avoided the masses going to AHS and went to the right toward Krampus and the Vamp 55 scare zone.
Oct 07-091 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Oct 07-129 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
I really enjoyed Krampus house nicely done and followed the movie really well. Even the Vamp 55 scare zone was nicely done and the scareactors looked and fit their area very well. What I love the most is that when the scareactors see you with a camera they will really play up to it a pose for you to get the shots you want then move on resuming scaring random people walking by.
Oct 07-095 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Oct 07-096 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Something I noticed the past two years is how willing they are to pose for candid shots and even meet and greet style shots or selfies. It was here in the Vamp, scare zone I actually ran into Mark Willard. I caught him out the corner of my eye when we were walking through and had to stop and say high. If you’ve never seen any of his photography I highly recommend you go and check out his work. The man takes some phenomenal photos. I didn’t get to talk much to him I could see he was in full photography mode trying to get as many shots in before he lost the twilight as the sun was going down rapidly at this point. I introduced myself and praised his work like a fan boy. He was super nice and wanted to know where I followed him online and what my user names were. It really was a nice surprise to run into him and a geek moment for the photographer in me.
After probably boring you with more mundane details than needed I’ll jump into more highlights and thoughts on the event.
Houses: My favorite houses were the ones that I was able to watch the movies of most recently. My recommendation for anyone going is to watch the movies of the IP houses before you go. I really enjoyed Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Exorcist, Krampus, and Ghost Town(more for the details and scenes than scares). I feel these were my favorites solely because I was able to watch these movies before going and all the scenes from the movie were fresh in my mind and I really connected with how well they designed these house to follow and emulate the movies. Texas Chainsaw more so than the rest the details felt like you were walking through the house in the movie. My favorite scene/effect for the houses was the sliding metal door that leather face comes out from. You had the visual and sound effect all together here to make it feel real and extra scary.
Oct 07-097 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Oct 07-098 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
The only houses that I did not care for were Lunatics Playground 3D: You Don’t Stand A Chance and Tomb of the Ancients. The 3D house I just don’t like any of the 3D houses The bright vibrant colors and strobe effects and having to wear the cheap paper glasses automatically puts the hose at the bottom add to the fact there were no good scares for me and it just falls to the bottom of my list. Tomb of the Ancients I’m not sure what they were going for with the house but it just misses the mark for me. After going through the house once when we came back around and there was no wait for it I almost didn’t even want to go back through it was just bland. While they did have some interesting scenes I really have no idea the look or feel they were going for and it was almost comical some of the cheesiness of the scenes. I wanted to laugh more than I was scared in this house.
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It can't be easy taking a baby but your DD seems pretty go with the flow. How fun that your DS "got" the HP stuff. Thanks for the new TR link!
