On the Floor and Out the Door!: a 17 day HalloChristmas, RunDisney, MNSSHP, HHN, MVMCP adventure! new 2/8!

[Raeven]

The musician is kinda in a weird location in the middle of the buffet stations but it was a nice touch.

I agree it was a weird spot and very loud if you were indoors

Thanks to @Raeven, I knew exactly what I wanted.

Haha, it's so good!

The bread looks different!

I like to do a breakfast plate first then a lunch plate. It just seems logical to me. Mike and Steve said the whole point of buffets is to eat it all at the same time. What do you guys think?

Same! I like to split it up like that too. Also I often will do a sweet and savory plate separately.

The desserts were the weakest part to me and I love sweets lol. They weren't bad but tasted premade and nothing special.

I think the thing on the stick was the cheesecake brownie, and ours tasted so weird and gross! It had a weird artificial taste, and it wasn't like cheesecake at all.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Not up here. We have:

For some reason, it didn't occur to me that Captain America would only be popular in America

Ahhh… okay. I actually don't think Manhattan when I think NYC. I think Manhattan and Queens and the Bronx and Brooklyn.

Fair enough (but you still forgot us!)

He didn't???

He missed the first round because he was in the bathroom so it was the first time he heard the spiel lol

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Ok first! Dr. Doom's Fear Fall is a wannabeTOT I was so disappointed the first time I rode it -up once and down, that's it???

True TOT is definitely much better! And I've been on plenty of other rides like it that are taller and more thrilling (have you been on the one at Six Flags NJ? I thought I was gonna have a heart attack lol)

Glad you enjoyed the brunch! We had brunch there last September but it wasn't the acoustic one, I loved all the memorabilia there and also the guitar shaped condiment holder on the table

I was very tempted to steal the condiment holder but I figured they'd notice right away lol

And I lol'd about your lost Burrough comment, I have friends that feel the same way!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I agree it was a weird spot and very loud if you were indoors

omg SO loud lol. Maybe that's why our waiter was so confused- he was going deaf!

Same! I like to split it up like that too. Also I often will do a sweet and savory plate separately

Great minds think alike! I like the sweet and savory plate idea!

I think the thing on the stick was the cheesecake brownie, and ours tasted so weird and gross! It had a weird artificial taste, and it wasn't like cheesecake at all.

Oo I think you're right! And yeah it was nothing like a cheesecake brownie at all lol

 

[disneyAndi14]

The Acoustic Brunch looks really nice, especially with the Mimosas and Made to order French toast!
We love Spider-Man and Andi likes The Hulk, way to scary for me!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Who Does? We Does.

When we finished brunch, we decided we needed a break back at the resort before HHN. However, since we parked in the regular parking lot, we had to go back through Citiwalk.

As we left the Hard Rock, we watched a boat pull away and the walking path looked beautiful so I suggested we walk back.

Well.

Anyone remember when I told Mike we could ride in the front of the boat on the way back cause I totally forgot. #woops. Halfway through the walk, he remembered. Oy. I still hear about it til this day. I think I know what you guys with small children feel like now.

Other than the sulking, it was a very nice, peaceful walk and the security table at the end of the path is SO convenient- reminded me of walking from the Contemporary to Magic Kingdom.

Seeing this made me even more excited for HHN tonight!



We made the LONG trek through Citiwalk to the parking lot and made the short drive back to the hotel. I wanted to lay down but Mike and Steve wanted to check out the arcade so I told them to stop by the front desk to find out about getting a new remote or getting ours fixed.

Apparently there was some miscommunication at the front desk and Mike and Steve took a new remote with them and someone took it upon themselves to deliver one to the room. Well, no sooner did I fall asleep but there was a man entering the room! He was very apologetic for giving me a heart attack and I was so tired I fell back asleep anyway. When the boys came back they were like "Oh yeah the guy did say he'd go to the room" UH HELLO no one thought to tell him I was sleeping. #men

Now that we had 4 zillion remotes, we were on a mission to find the infomercial again and we certainly did!

I took some videos so the rest of the world could appreciate what we listened to all night.

Is your power bill high? It's the dryer- It's ALWAYS THE DRYER.

This, if you didn't realize, is where the trip report title came from. We seriously quoted this commercial SO much during this trip and he's so excited when he says "On the floor and out the door" that it just cracked me up.

I hope you all find these videos as hysterical as we do. If not, I apologize.

At around 3:15 PM, we drove back to the parks.

Mike drove and I played with Snapchat filters on the way.





We stopped for some globe photos on the way in.









This is my favorite time of year and I was so excited!



It was still way before the official opening of HHN for the night but I took some pictures of the arcade machines in the first scare zone as we walked in.





The tickets we'd purchased for HHN were BOGO nights so this was our first of two nights attending. We decided not to get the express pass for tonight and see what we got done without it and buy it for the second night if we felt we needed to.

We were planning to do some rides before lining up in the Stay and Scream zone but we walked past it and saw a bunch of people waiting already so we changed our plan and joined them.



The way HHN works is that the park closes to day guests at 5 pm. If you have a day ticket/AP and are in the park before 5, you can go into a Stay and Scream zone to wait for the park to be cleared and for the event to start. If you only have an event ticket or aren't in the park before 5, you wait at the front gates for the event to officially start at 6:30. The benefit of being in the Stay and Scream zones (there's a few different ones that let out to different houses) is they released you earlier to the houses and you get a jump on the crowds held at the front of the park.

This used to be much more informal a few years ago but now it's more crowded than ever so it's more of a process.

It was only 3:45 PM when we got in line and as you can see, we were far from the first. Somewhere around 4 pm or a little after, they started scanning tickets and letting people into the area.

Once in the area, it was divided into two sides and you had to choose if you wanted to wait in line for Stranger Things or Ghostbusters. We chose Stranger Things, which was by far the more crowded of the two sides.

The downside here was we had a while to wait and I hadn't realized ahead of time how much of a line situation we'd be in and it was hot, sunny and I wanted a drink lol. The Ghostbusters side of the line had a stand where you could get drinks (alcoholic and non) but there were barricades set up preventing us from getting there. I was a little grumpy to be sitting there for so long in the heat with nothing to drink.

We ended up making friends with a group around us and two of the women in their group were very daring and were hopping over the barricades to get drinks so Mike ended up making a deal with them to pay for some of their drinks in exchange for them bring us back some. I was much happier.

They released us from our holding cell around 5:15 and hoarded us like cattle towards the Stranger Things house.



I love Stranger Things so I was very excited for it to be back at HHN this year but I was disappointed by the house. They combined seasons 2 and 3 for it and I'm not sure why cause I felt like there were a lot of scenes from season 3 I would've liked to see used.

But we were out of the house by 5:45 and technically the event hadn't even started yet and the crowd from the front gate hadn't gotten in yet so we felt accomplished.

I was anxious to see the Killer Klowns house so we decided to go there next. We had to wait a couple minutes as they weren't letting people walk that way yet so I took the opportunity to get one of the alcoholic drinks in the souvenir cup.



There were a couple different drink options but if I recall correctly, this one was called Blood Pit (Vodka, blood orange sour, peach schnapps and orange juice). Like all of the HHN signature drinks, this was pretty sweet and not particularly strong but it was refreshing and I wanted the cup lol.

We were able to go towards Killer Klowns around 6 pm and the wait was only a few minutes. I loved this house and it was honestly my favorite of last year. It was so well done and felt just like the movie to me. Plus, I liked that they had a photo op out front which was a highlight of the scare zone from the year before.



It was only 6:15 and we were two houses down and excited for the rest of the night ahead of us!​

 

[lvcourtneyy]

The Acoustic Brunch looks really nice, especially with the Mimosas and Made to order French toast!

It was really good! I recommend it.

We love Spider-Man and Andi likes The Hulk, way to scary for me!

my sister doesn't ride the Hulk either!

 

[missangelalexis]

Hahaha thank you for sharing the infomercial! Too Funny!

That's great that you got 2 houses done so early on!!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

When the boys came back they were like "Oh yeah the guy did say he'd go to the room" UH HELLO no one thought to tell him I was sleeping. #men

Ugh! At least you were able to get back to sleep.

It sounds like a great start to your HHN night. Being an absolute chicken, I have no desire to do any of that but it looks like you're having fun.

The Ghostbusters side of the line had a stand where you could get drinks (alcoholic and non) but there were barricades set up preventing us from getting there. I was a little grumpy to be sitting there for so long in the heat with nothing to drink.

We ended up making friends with a group around us and two of the women in their group were very daring and were hopping over the barricades to get drinks so Mike ended up making a deal with them to pay for some of their drinks in exchange for them bring us back some. I was much happier.

What a weird missed opportunity. Set it up in the middle, serve from both sides, double your revenue!

 

[pkondz]

For some reason, it didn't occur to me that Captain America would only be popular in America

I dunno about other parts of the world, but...
My understanding is that he's quite popular amongst the female members of the country.

Fair enough (but you still forgot us!)

I know! But that's what I think!!!

Halfway through the walk, he remembered. Oy. I still hear about it til this day. I think I know what you guys with small children feel like now.

the security table at the end of the path is SO convenient- reminded me of walking from the Contemporary to Magic Kingdom.

Oh! Good comparison.

Well, no sooner did I fall asleep but there was a man entering the room! He was very apologetic for giving me a heart attack and I was so tired I fell back asleep anyway

Whoops!

And... you just fell back asleep!

UH HELLO no one thought to tell him I was sleeping. #men

Yep. That's us!

This, if you didn't realize, is where the trip report title came from. We seriously quoted this commercial SO much during this trip and he's so excited when he says "On the floor and out the door" that it just cracked me up.

Ohhhh….

I hope you all find these videos as hysterical as we do. If not, I apologize.

And Whirlpool!

What even was that!?!?

Mike drove and I played with Snapchat filters on the way.

Not bats!!!

The way HHN works is that the park closes to day guests at 5 pm. If you have a day ticket/AP and are in the park before 5, you can go into a Stay and Scream zone to wait for the park to be cleared and for the event to start. If you only have an event ticket or aren't in the park before 5, you wait at the front gates for the event to officially start at 6:30. The benefit of being in the Stay and Scream zones (there's a few different ones that let out to different houses) is they released you earlier to the houses and you get a jump on the crowds held at the front of the park.

Thanks for that. Dunno if I'll ever do HHN, but if I do...

We chose Stranger Things, which was by far the more crowded of the two sides.

I'd have done that too, I think.

We ended up making friends with a group around us and two of the women in their group were very daring and were hopping over the barricades to get drinks so Mike ended up making a deal with them to pay for some of their drinks in exchange for them bring us back some.

Not a bad transaction, but... if they were doing it, why didn't Mike just... go?

But we were out of the house by 5:45 and technically the event hadn't even started yet and the crowd from the front gate hadn't gotten in yet so we felt accomplished.

Score!

this one was called Blood Pit (Vodka, blood orange sour, peach schnapps and orange juice).

That sounds really good.

 

[Raeven]

I took some videos so the rest of the world could appreciate what we listened to all night.

I once saw an infomercial with my brother that I think was called "magic ear" and was like a "super" hearing device and it's hilarious. You have to look that one up

The downside here was we had a while to wait and I hadn't realized ahead of time how much of a line situation we'd be in and it was hot, sunny and I wanted a drink lol.

I hate the holding areas it's soooo hot in there! We actually didn't end up using holding areas at all last year because we went for more nights than usual, and just kind of showed up whenever which I liked a lot better.

I love Stranger Things so I was very excited for it to be back at HHN this year but I was disappointed by the house. They combined seasons 2 and 3 for it and I'm not sure why cause I felt like there were a lot of scenes from season 3 I would've liked to see used.

I was so disappointed in this one! I loved the third season of Stranger Things and thought there would be so much more stuff at the event and in the house for it.

I was anxious to see the Killer Klowns house so we decided to go there next. We had to wait a couple minutes as they weren't letting people walk that way yet so I took the opportunity to get one of the alcoholic drinks in the souvenir cup.

I like the cup! I got a Universal Monsters one, but the drink we had wasn't that great.

I loved this house and it was honestly my favorite of last year. It was so well done and felt just like the movie to me.

That was my favorite scare zone the year before and my favorite house last year!

 

[disneyAndi14]

The one time we did HHN, we were able to go in early and gather in the wait area by the Simpsons. This was so helpful since we didn’t have EP and only had 1 night of HHN.
I love Stranger Things but I also heard the House wasn’t the best. The picture op I saw in other reports at one of the resorts looked really cool!
I’m glad you got several houses in before the start of the event!
Love hearing all about it!

 

[LovesTimone]

Acoustic Brunch at the Hard Rock Hotel

After our meet with Captain America, we still had some time before our brunch reservation so we decided to fit in some superhero themed rides.



Our first stop was at Spiderman!





The wait time was posted at 25 minutes but we only waited 15.

The rows were labelled as "zones" named after the boroughs of NYC so of course, we had to take a picture of the sign for our forgotten borough of Staten Island lol.



You wouldn't know it given the same bored expression we all have in the photo lol but Spiderman is one of my favorites of the 3d simulator rides. It just seems more thrilling than some of the others.



We walked over to Doctor Doom's Fearfall next. Mike hates this ride but I like it and he gave in and rode it.



Steve's mom (Mike's sister) was messaging us on Facebook trying to coordinate coming to meet us at Universal one of the nights we weren't going to HHN but Mike and I were kinda annoyed with her given the drama about Steve's pass the day before so we just kept responding to her with quotes from the infomercial we watched all night.

Our final ride before leaving for brunch was the Hulk! This is one of my favorite coasters anywhere because it scares me to death (which is my definition of a good ride lol) and I was so excited to ride.

I think the ride photo accurate portrays my feelings lol.



After our ride, it was time to head out of the park so we stopped for some photos on the way out.



It was a little sunny .





We exited Islands of Adventure and made our way to the boat dock.

It was a beautiful, picture perfect day.





We only had to wait a few minutes for a boat and as we were getting on, Mike asked if we could sit on the benches at the front of the boat. I said I wasn't sure if we could sit up there so we didn't. Of course, people got on after us and sat up there so Mike was sulking. I had to promise him we could sit up front on the way back to the parks.



Despite the sulking it was a beautiful ride over to the Hard Rock hotel.



It was 11:53 when we made our way inside the Hard Rock hotel and found our brunch destination.





Our reservation was at 12:15 and that's pretty much when we were seated (even though a good amount of the restaurant was empty while we waited .

I did like that they had an option to use a portable charger while you were in the restaurant!



They ask for your room key as collateral but since we weren't staying on property, they took my license instead.

Every Sunday from 10:30 am- 2:30 pm, the Kitchen at the Hard Rock hotel hosts the Acoustic Brunch. It features live music, a breakfast buffet and unlimited mimosas and bloody marys!



The musician is kinda in a weird location in the middle of the buffet stations but it was a nice touch.

I liked this guitar-shaped holder on the table!



One of the things I was most looking forward to during this brunch was the griddle station where they had specialty french toast/pancakes/waffles cooked to order so I headed there first.



Thanks to @Raeven, I knew exactly what I wanted.





OMG this was SO good. It was also very decadent and rich and very filling lol but if I had room, I totally would've gotten a second plate of it.

Of course, i had no choice but to indulge in the unlimited mimosas and Mike even had some too!



When I eat at brunch buffets, I like to do a breakfast plate first then a lunch plate. It just seems logical to me. Mike and Steve said the whole point of buffets is to eat it all at the same time. What do you guys think?

Anyway, this was my breakfast plate. The eggs were tex-mex eggs and were delicious! They had wraps next to them on the buffet that you could make a breakfast burrito with but I opted just to eat the eggs.



And my lunch plate!



I could honestly eat tomato and mozzarella salad for every meal and may or may not have gone up for a second plate just of that before dessert .

The desserts were the weakest part to me and I love sweets lol. They weren't bad but tasted premade and nothing special.



I found the napkins so adorable.



The price listed online for brunch is $39 but for some reason I feel like I remember it being $45. Either way, we felt like it was a great deal. We also thought it was nice that when we got the check, they charged an "under 21 adult price" for Steve since he couldn't/didn't drink alcohol which we fully expected to pay the same price for him.

Our waiter was a sweet older Spanish man who was a little scattered and strange. He clearly meant well but we asked for the check and he left and came back without it and was fixated on telling us how we could have our parking validated for eating here even after we told him that we didn't park here lol. We asked for the check again and he ended up going over to another table with their check even though they were clearly still eating and then made a full circle of the restaurant with our check in hand. Mike had gone to the bathroom during this but Steve and I were cracking up. When he finally made it back to us, he went through the parking spiel all over again. He was super sweet but I'm just not sure being a waiter was his calling.

After brunch, we had planned on going back to the park but it was later than we expected it to be and we all needed a rest after all that food so we decided to go back to the hotel for a break instead. ​

DH and I are locals, and we have been thinking about trying this out... as locals we hear alot of reviews, and so far this spot has just gotten an okay review... mostly that the buffet itself is not consistent, some food is really well done, and other dish totally are missing the basic mark, dessert was the biggest complaint, as well as not enough lighter fare option... and the service is missing some steps for sure... I was really glad to read your review and see that you liked, and had some positive comments... parking is a big thing with the locals, so I guess that they drum that point into the training if nothing else... We have some friends that are coming later in the year, so maybe we will suggest this as a spot to meet up...

Oh yeah.... how was the entertainment?

 

[kastoney]

Well, no sooner did I fall asleep but there was a man entering the room! He was very apologetic for giving me a heart attack and I was so tired I fell back asleep anyway.

Well this sounds more terrifying than anything you are going to encounter at HHN

This, if you didn't realize, is where the trip report title came from. We seriously quoted this commercial SO much during this trip and he's so excited when he says "On the floor and out the door" that it just cracked me up.

You all totally have the same humor as us. Why do I feel like a trip to Appliance Direct is going to be on your must do list for the next trip?

Ok these pose the same way every time you find a photographer pics are so cracking me up. Smile, wave, thumbs up, arms up, repeat

We ended up making friends with a group around us and two of the women in their group were very daring and were hopping over the barricades to get drinks so Mike ended up making a deal with them to pay for some of their drinks in exchange for them bring us back some. I was much happier.

Now those are friends like everyone neeeds

They combined seasons 2 and 3 for it and I'm not sure why cause I felt like there were a lot of scenes from season 3 I would've liked to see used.

I've never even seen the house and know this is so right. I hated season 2 but 3 redeemed itself.

Now that right there is just creepy!!!!

 

[dwonderz]

Oy. I still hear about it til this day. I think I know what you guys with small children feel like now.

We ended up making friends with a group around us and two of the women in their group were very daring and were hopping over the barricades to get drinks so Mike ended up making a deal with them to pay for some of their drinks in exchange for them bring us back some.

When there's a will - there's a way!!

Also - I love this houses thing - that's so cool and I had no idea Universal did all of that!

 

[tundra1]

I work in an Emergency Department also. We had a lady with a broken leg and she spiked a temp or 102.5 and a killer headache an hour into her visit while she was waiting for surgery. Of course, we were saving the N-95's for all the respiratory cases! Keeping our fingers crossed that she tests negative! Thanks for all you are doing out there in Staten Island! My daughter lives in Brooklyn, and she said the city is just so different now. Stay healthy!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Hahaha thank you for sharing the infomercial! Too Funny!

That's great that you got 2 houses done so early on!!

It was awesome!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Ugh! At least you were able to get back to sleep.

I was so tired- I literally closed my eyes again right away lol

It sounds like a great start to your HHN night. Being an absolute chicken, I have no desire to do any of that but it looks like you're having fun.

I get scared so easily but I still love it lol!

What a weird missed opportunity. Set it up in the middle, serve from both sides, double your revenue!

Exactly! It was a stand that's always there so it's not like it was purposely there to only serve one side but it was definitely a missed opportunity.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I dunno about other parts of the world, but...
My understanding is that he's quite popular amongst the female members of the country.

That makes sense. I like Thor better!

Whoops!

And... you just fell back asleep

I was tired!

And Whirlpool!

What even was that!?!?

We have it in white! No one has it in white!

Thanks for that. Dunno if I'll ever do HHN, but if I do...

I think you should!

Not a bad transaction, but... if they were doing it, why didn't Mike just... go?

I was afraid to get in trouble for jumping over the barricades lol and Mike didn't think he'd physically make it over

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I once saw an infomercial with my brother that I think was called "magic ear" and was like a "super" hearing device and it's hilarious. You have to look that one up

Omg I remember this because we always made fun of my dad saying we were gonna buy him one cause he keeps the TV so loud

I hate the holding areas it's soooo hot in there! We actually didn't end up using holding areas at all last year because we went for more nights than usual, and just kind of showed up whenever which I liked a lot better.

That's what we did in 2018 and I agree, it;s much more relaxing. It's nice to get a jump on the houses but it felt kinda like torture for a while waiting!

I was so disappointed in this one! I loved the third season of Stranger Things and thought there would be so much more stuff at the event and in the house for it.

Same! Season 3 was 1000% times better than season 2 so I'm sad that they combined them.

I like the cup! I got a Universal Monsters one, but the drink we had wasn't that great.

I think they were out of the Universal Monsters one when we got there but I was happy to be able to get the Killer Klowns one!

That was my favorite scare zone the year before and my favorite house last year!

Same! Great minds!