With Spooky Season upon us I thought I would delve into different haunts to visit around Georgia. The first one I’m going to talk about is NETHERWORLD, which has been around for 23 years and has been rated one of the top haunts in the nation. Now sadly we haven’t visited yet but we are going to go this year and I am beyond nervous. These houses are longer than those I am used to at Halloween Horror Nights, but I’m gonna put on my big girl pants and do the damn thing! NETHERWORLD offers two different haunted houses and every year the two houses change. This year guests will experience Night of the Gorgon and Cold Blooded. Not only can guests visit the houses, they can also take part in laser tag and four different escape rooms.
NETHERWORLD is located in Stone Mountain, Georgia and will open for the spooky season on September 27th and run until November 9th on select nights.
Dates & Times of operation for NETHERWORLD
Depending on which night you visit the prices will vary, but below you can see the pricing options for each night:
Pricing for Sept. & Oct.
Pricing for Nov.
Pricing by color
The first price is just for a General Admission ticket for the Night of Gorgon house and the second price is for a Combo General Admission house, so you can visit both Night of Gorgon and Cold Blooded. Let’s breakdown the tickets prices a little more, guests have three different options to choose from when it comes to tickets. General Admission, Timed Tickets, or Speed Passes. The General Admission tickets are the most inexpensive tickets but will have the longest wait times. Timed tickets are considered medium-priced tickets and they allow guests to enter the front of the building on a specific date and within a specific half-hour window. These are generally a shorter wait time than the General Admission tickets. The final option guests can buy is the Speed Pass. The Speed Pass gets you into both houses. Guests will go to a special Speed Pass entrance and will usually get immediate access to the house. Personally I would choose the Speed Pass because I get very anxious and begin to have a panic attack if I have to wait in line too long. To me the prices for the Speed Pass don’t seem too expensive to me, depending on the night you’re looking at $50-$60 plus tax. Now that might seem like a lot to some but I am used to HHN prices and to get front-of-the-line access you would be paying double that or more.
Lets talk some more about the two houses this year; again they are Night of the Gorgon and Cold Blooded. In Night of the Gorgon, the Gorgon has been trapped in Eliza Whyshman’s mirror and is now being used by an apocalyptic cult. They are raising an of army of stone warriors to defeat all who are against them. It’s a concept that seems very interesting and these houses are longer than HHN mazes so if you think of what HHN can do I can only imagine what these will be like. The next house Cold Blooded, which is located in a secret research facility called The Box, where terrifying experiments are talking place. Reptilian aliens are having their DNA combined with prehistoric life forms, these creatures are sure to be unstoppable!
Night of the Gorgon
Cold Blooded
Just like HHN the monsters can’t touch you but they may accidently brush up against you accidently because they do get close to you. But they can’t just come up and touch you. The age recommendation is for adults and teens but parents may bring small children but they can’t be younger than five years old. They don’t offer discounted tickets for small children and beware that if your child (or even an adult) decides that they can’t make it through the houses they do not offer refunds. If you feel like you can’t make it all the way through the house there are emergency exists throughout the houses. It should be noted that Cold Blooded is going to be a gorier house than Night of the Gorgon. The attractions are wheelchair accessible and in the darker sections staff will help you navigate. Like HHN costumes are not permitted in the attractions. They do not serve alcoholic beverages on site and they are not permitted on site.
After going through the houses make sure to check out the gift shop and, as mentioned earlier, if you’re looking for more fun they do offer Laser Tag and Escape Games!
Be sure to keep a look out for our review after our visit!
You’ve probably seen those videos people do on YouTube where they show what is in their bag, well I thought I would do that but with a Universal/HHN twist. With our HHN trip nearing I thought maybe I would put together a little post on what is in my Universal/HHN backpack! Now I know that this might not seem important to most but I have seen some people asking what they should or should bring with them to the event and even just the park itself. After living in Florida for 2 years and being an Annual Passholder I feel like I am pretty well versed as to what one should bring with them. Not everyone will have the same list but I’ll show you what Dan and I usually bring. I’ll also talk about the different locker options there are at the parks (there will be a table at the bottom with all that info. There will also be a list of items you CAN NOT bring into the parks and a list of items that you CAN bring in at the bottom as well).
This year I finally broke down and bought a new backpack because the one I had been using was falling apart. Here is what I used to take with us when we would go to the parks.
Old Backpack, I loved this one but sadly the straps started to break. This picture also perfectly represents how we would squish it into the lockers.
I loved this bag it was drawstring but also had a clasp, it was very slouchy so it would fit into the free lockers pretty well. We don’t take a lot into the parks so I would be able to squish it into the locker and then we could put our refillable cup or drinks in front. Now Universal has made some changes to their lockers sine we lived there, if you can use a small locker(14 x 5.5 x 16.9) GREAT it’s free while you ride and everyone is happy. But if you have a bigger bag or oversized items then you will have to get a large locker(12 x 13 x 16.9). These lockers will run $2 during the posted wait time and an additional $3 per 30 minutes with a $20 max per day BOOOOO!!! This makes you angry and Universal happy because they are getting more of your money. So I like to make sure that I have something that will fit in the free lockers.
With the measurements for the lockers in mind I was able to compare them to the backpacks I was interested in. Again we don’t usually take a lot into the parks because we don’t want to have to worry about paying for lockers and lugging a heavy bag around the park all day SUCKS. So in my searches I came across a cute mini backpack from Loungefly, now I love Loungefly but they are a bit pricey. I actually found this bag on ThinkGeek as they were closing down their website and I also was able to find a coupon and get 20% off the bag so I figured I couldn’t pass it up. I believe it was originally $60 and I was able to get it for $42 after tax and shipping which compared to most of the bags on Loungefly it was a pretty good deal. Drum roll please…..(drum roll sound)
Isn’t it adorable!!!
Loungefly Stranger Things Mini Backpack
I love it and it is the perfect size for the free lockers and for what we take into the par (Dimensions of bag W:9″ x H:10″ x D:4.5″). After ordering it I was a little scared that it would be too small, I mean it is a mini-backpack for crying out loud and I was so used to my old bag size that I started to become a bit uneasy. As soon as I opened the box I was so happy and my worries went away.
Okay let’s get to the point of why you’re here to see what is inside my HHN bag! Well here is goes.
Earplugs – I like to have these for when we’re going through the houses. I love HHN but I am a big chicken when it comes to the houses and they’re usually pretty loud so I always tell people to bring earplugs.
Lanyards – Now we mostly wears these (or at least I do) because they will have our Express passes in them but sometimes we like to wrap them up nicely and put them in the bag. Big thank you to Christoper Ripley and HHNUnoffical for the awesome Trick ‘r Treat themed lanyard! (We won’t use all these just can’t decided on which ones we want to use this year and to be honest Dan probably still buy one when we’re there).
Wallet
Ziploc Baggies – Now since this bag is stiffer and like a leather material I don’t have to worry about rain or water as much as I did with the old bag but they’re still nice to have. (I like to have a couple small ones and a couple large ones) The large ones are also great for after you finish your drink in your refillable HHN glass (so you can get the discounts on your next beer or cocktail) to put your cup in and then put in your bag cause I gotta have my hands free while going through the houses.
Band-Aids – These are pretty self explanatory but I am a very clumsy person also you WILL be doing a lot walking so they are nice to have, especially if you’re not near the guest services area.
Chapstick
Sunscreen – I’m a pale, freckled redhead so I have to have sunscreen.
Refillable Cup / Water Bottle – (Not Pictured, sadly ours broke last year) This all depends on if you bring a water bottle for free water or if you splurge for the refillable cup (which if you’re going to be there a few days these are great, also you can keep bringing them back each year and just pay the activation fee).
Portable Charge / Charging Cord – Self explanatory, this one does great for our phones but I defiantly plan on getting a bigger one that is also solar paneled as well. And obviously whatever charging cords you may need for your devices
Snacks – (Not Pictured) We don’t usually take snacks in with us but sometimes we will. It’s usually like trail mix, granola bars stuff like that, it’s good to have if you aren’t ready for a full on meal but would like a little well, a snack.
Gum / Mints
Headache Medicine – I like to have a travel size one on me at all times and I’ll bring a bigger bottle that I leave at the hotel to refill it as needed.
Camera – For all the sweet HHN pictures and videos I’m going to take!
Hand Sanitizer – (Not Pictured) Nice to have if you’re not near a bathroom and would like to clean your hands.
Sunglasses
Pancho – HAHAHA JUST KIDDING!!! We don’t mess with ponchos, if it rains whatever it’s Florida it will stop soon. Last year we waited out a storm at NBC Sports Bar & Grill and then it only sprinkled on us a little while waiting in line for Stranger Things. Bring ’em if you like ’em or get those small compacted umbrellas, we just prefer to find a restaurant or shop to hangout in until it passes.
Depending on your needs or your group sizes obviously you’re list will be different but these are just some of the things we like to have with us. Remember that there are security checkpoints with scanners so be patient and don’t bring in anything that will be flagged. Last year I forgot that we had brought rolled coins with us and it was flagged the first night we went. After that I would take them out and put them in the bin beside my bag just to speed up the process. I always like to have all the zipper pockets opened and ready for when I get up to the scanner.
As promised at the begining of this post here is a table that breaks down the different locker types, prices and where you can find them.
LOCKER TYPES
LOCKER DIMENSIONS
PRICING
LOCATIONS
EXTRA NOTES
All Day Rental: Large Size
12″x13″x 16.9″
Starts at $10 per day
Entrance of Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure
I believe that the lockers at Islands of Adventure are located outside the front gates so you would have to exit the park each time you needed to visit your locker.
All Day Rental: Family Size
12″x16.25″x16.9″
Starts at $15 per day
Entrance of Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure
Single-Time Use @ Attractions: Standard Size
14″x 5.5″x16.9″
Free while you ride
Located next to: The Revenge of the Mummy, MIB, Gringotts, Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rocket, The Hulk and Forbidden Journey
Good for small loose items or small bags.
I believe that wands will fit in these lockers, if they’re in their box you would just have to lay it down.
Single-Time Use @ Attractions: Large Size
12″x13″x16.9″
$2 during posted wait time, an additional $3 per 30mins with a $20 max per day
Located next to: The Revenge of the Mummy, MIB, Gringotts, Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rocket, The Hulk and Forbidden Journey
For oversized items
If you are going on a water ride such as Jurassic Park River Adventure, Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges or Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls you can take your bags on those rides (not sure about Dudley-Do Rights, I have never ridden that one). Jurassic Park River Ride they won’t get too wet, it does have to go on the floor at your feet though so just keep that in mind. For Popeye’s though you do get soaked, they have a center area were you can place you bags and there is a plastic covering that comes over them. Be warned if water got into it on the last ride or if water hits it just right it can still get through the cover and your items will be soaked. These rides do offer Single-Time Use lockers starting at $4 during posted wait time then an additional $3 per 30mins with a max of $20 per day. You could also bring a plastic bag with you if you don’t want to worry about the lockers and just make sure it’s tied tight.
And lastly even though it’s not a park we visit I will give you the locker info for Volcano Bay. From the Universal Orlando Resort Website: Lockers can be found in the Rainforest Village, River Village and Wave Village. They have 3 different sizes; Mini, Regular, and Family Size and they are $9, $13 & $16 respectively.
Here is a list of things that you CAN NOTbring into the parks:
Weapons or anything that can be used as a weapon
Alcohol – If you are walking around City Walk with a drink you must finish it before you enter the parks
Marijuana
Illegal items or substances
Clothing with offensive language or content
Clothing that represents someone as emergency personnel
Clothing or accessories that may create a false impression that the visitor works for Universal
Any other items Universal personnel deem to be inappropriate, disruptive or harmful
Glass containers
Hard-sided coolers
Soft-sided coolers larger than W: 8.5″ x H: 6″ x D: 6″
Picnic Lunches
Food that needs to be microwaved to refrigerated
Folding Chairs
You are allowed to bring in:
Bottled water with a max of 2 liters
Any food that is required for medical purposes and medically-indicated nutritional supplements
Any food required for special dietary needs
Baby food / baby formula
Soft-sided insulated bags no larger than W: 8.5″ x H: 6″ x D: 6″
With HHN Opening Sceremonies only 10 days away we finally got a look at a good bit of the merchandise. Now Universal didn’t actually put it out there but thanks to others that noticed the merch was up on the Universal Orlando shop website we know what’s in store. I’m going to go on record right now and say I FREAKING LOVE ALL OF IT and I’m pretty sure that Universal is trying to bankrupt me. Last year the event was 80’s themed but I didn’t really think that the merch did a good job of portraying that. This year however the event is again said to be 80’s themed and the merchandise SCREAMS 80’s (and if you don’t believe you can ask Dan he was there). I am going to highlight some of my favorite items but if you would like to see everything you can do so here.
HHN Themed Glasses $10 a piece
First items I want to talk about are these HHN Themed Glasses, on the website they are going for $10 (plus tax) a piece (I would assume they will be the same at the event, fingers crossed). Already that’s $40 I’m spending at the event but it I were to pick just two of them I would have to go with the Classic Monsters & the Killer Klowns From Outer Space. I just love how vibrate they are, the only thing that would worry me would be putting these in a dishwasher. I would make sure I hand washed them so that they color wouldn’t fade too fast. These are truly very high on my list on items to get while we’re there.
HHN29 Pin Set $10 a set
The next items I really like because I have a jean jacket that I have decorated with patches and pins that are horror related and these pins would look amazing on my jacket. You get 4 pins in each set and they are going to also cost you $10 (plus tax) a set. The more I look at these I think I would just get the Killer Klowns From Outer Space set. But that could change when I see them in person, these are more in the middle to bottom of my list though. Like I said I really only like them because they would look great on my jacket.
Above mentioned jean jacket, I’ll put links at the bottom for the shops that I got the patches and pins from.
HHN Event T-Shirt $28
Usually when we go to the events I’m not the biggest fan of the shirts that they have put together but for the event but this year I’m singing a different tune. The first shirt up is the HHN29 event t-shirt, this bad boy will run you $28 (plus tax). It plays with the 80’s theme and also ties into the Anarch-cade scarezone with the Arcade Game Machine with the houses listed on the screen. Now I will mention if you zoom in on the shirt it only has 9 of the 10 houses, for some reason Ghostbusters isn’t represented on this shirt.
HHN29 Sweatshirt $50
The next item up for your consideration is this HHN29 Black Light Reactive Zip-up Sweatshirt, this bad boy will run you $50 (plus tax). Now this one has the big 3 houses Ghostbusters, Stranger Things and Killer Klowns From Outer Space. This is defiantly going to be on my radar, now I most likely won’t make a decision on this one until our last night but it is pretty tubular as the kids used to say. This is up there with the glasses for me but like I said I won’t decide until our last night.
Klownzilla Shirt $32
Alright if you’re a big fan of Killer Klowns From Outer Space and an even bigger fan of Klownzilla then this next shirt is for you, it’s going to cost you $32 (plus tax). I love the acid wash look of this one and of course the giant Klownzilla is just amazing. Defiantly think this one will be a huge hit at the event.
Classic Monsters House Shirt $28
The next two shirts both belong in the Classic Monsters Universe, we have the HHN29 Classic Monsters House shirt and then a “You Should Fear Me Shirt” featuring The Bride of Frankenstein. The Classic Monsters House shirt is $28, I really love this because I have a soft spot for the Classic Monsters. Again I’m not usually a big fan of the house shirts but this one doesn’t fell like the ones I’ve seen from past events. If they don’t have the Horror Ink Custom shirt making shop this year I might just get this one. That is if I don’t spend all my money on the zip-up sweatshirt.
Bride of Frankenstein “You Should Fear Me” Shirt $35
Our last shirt if The Bride of Frankenstein “You Should Fear Me” shirt which will run you $35. This shirt looks super comfy and I love the cut in the back of the neck, I got a Bride of Frankenstein tank top the last time we were at the park so I don’t know if I would spend $35 on this but it is really cute.
Like I said this year for merchandise is of the charts. There is just so much stuff that I love and I had already started a list of things that I wanted to get from the Classic Monsters store so I’m going to have to wait and see how I feel about the items in person. This is a great year for merch!! I can’t wait to see it all in person and see what else they have that didn’t make it up on the website. I also want to say if you’re an Annual Passholder beginning on September 6th (first night of HHN) there will be a special HHN29 Passholder shirt ($27 plus tax) and Passholder pin ($14 plus tax). Passholders can find them at the UOAP Lounge from 11am-4pm daily or the Cyber Image store during normal operating hours, including HHN event hours. You can get a discount on the items if you have the Premier or Preferred passes. This is only while supplies last though, so sadly when we go they most likely won’t have any left since we aren’t going until October. But it’s no biggie cause the rest of the merchandise is awesome looking and I’m already having issues trying to figure out what will be coming home with me.
Lastly I just want to touch on some food and drinks, we know that Pizza Fries will be returning and they will be joined by S’mores Fries this year. Twisted taters are coming back which I am excited to try this year and guests will also be able to experience some dining options from the Starcourt Mall Food Court (which is very interesting to me). We have yet to see or hear the names for the specialty cocktails or what the glasses will look like this year but rest assured the minute we have any info on them we’ll share it with you all. We’re in the home stretch and I can’t wait to start seeing everyone’s videos and pictures from the event to help tide me over until we make our way down there.
We’re 21 days away from Opening Scaremonies and we’ve been bombarded with announcements recently. Let me tell you what it’s been AMAZING!! All the houses have been announced (you can read about them here). We also have all the scarezones and shows, which I’ll cover in this post. I’ll also touch on how Dan and I rank the houses. We are still waiting on food and merchandise to be announced but I fell like that is right around the corner.
Will be located in the Ave of the Stars
Let’s dive right into the scarezones shall we! When guests enter the park they will experience Anarch-cade,this scarezone will be themed after an 80’s arcade. T’m actually very interested to see how this turns out, it will be cool to see all the vintage arcade games.
As guest continue through the park towards the Mummy ride they will step foot into the United States of Zombieland. Zombieland : Double Tap will showcase scenes from the first movie and the sequel which hits theaters on October 18th. Make sure you remember the rules for survival and keep your eyes peeled for twinkies.
Will be located in front of The Revenge of the Mummy
Will be located in San Fransisco (near Fast & the Furious)
If you’re lucky enough to escape Zombieland : Double Tap you will enter into a different Zombie land, Rob Zombie that is. Welcome to Rob Zombie’s Hellbilly Deluxe, this may be a pretty PG-13 or mature scarezone. I feel like it’s going to be if you walked into a Rob Zombie music video. If you’re not familiar with Rob Zombies work I suggest you check out the album the scarezone is named after and his movies. Just so you have an idea as to what you’ll be walking into.
Will be located in Central Park
Once you’ve made your way to the Central Park section of Universal prepare to come face to face with the undead, Vikings Undead that is! I’m a little skeptical about this scarezone, the idea seems awesome but it’s located in one of the smaller sections. It will still be scary and well done but I just don’t know to what scale. This location usually does have the prettiest scarezones so we will just have to wait and see.
Will be located in the streets of Hollywood
As you leave the undead you will head into the last scarezone (or second scarezone depending on how you maneuver through the park). Located in the streets of Hollywood is the Vanity Ball. I’m picturing the Met Gala meets Nip Tuck/Botched. When I saw this on the speculation map it had the name holder Plastic Surgery and I wasn’t thrilled about it. But after reading the description of the Halloween Horror Nightswebsite I feel a little better about it. I think we’ll see scareactors walking around with surgical equipment coming out of their skin and possibly body parts replaced with enhanced or non-body parts (picture people from the Capital in Hunger Games). This scarezone will defiantly be an interesting sight.
Along with the scarezones, the Academy of Villains show was announced, as well as a never before seen show. AOV will be returning to the Fear Factor Live Show Stage with a brand new show titled Altered States. It seems like it is going to be a battle of man against himself. The websitesays “Man’s true nature is dragged out into the dark, gothic streets of anarchy”. You can expect high energy, high intensity, good music, lasers and amazing dancing. Along with AOV we’re getting a never before lagoon show for HHN. The show is called Halloween Marathon of Mayhem; I am SUPER EXCITED FOR THIS!!!! Using water, lights and music scenes from Stranger Things, Ghostbusters, Universal Monsters and Killer Klowns From Outer Spacewill be projected onto the lagoon. As the water dances be prepared to be memorized by these icon movie and show scenes. The show will run only on HHN event nighrs at 10pm, 11pm and 12am. You can find more information about it on the Universal App.
New Lagoon Show
There is a lot to look forward to this year and I can only imagine what HHN30 is going to be! As you know (or may not if you’re new to the blog) we have a podcast called Theme Park Corner: Halloween Corner Nights, you can stream it on SoundCloud and Spotify. In our last episode Dan and I ranked the houses, I’ll leave our lists below. We would love to know how you rank the houses, leave a comment here, on our Instagramor on our Twitter.
Welcome back! This blog post is going to cover the buildup to HHN 29, I will keep adding to it as more and more announcements roll in. As of today we have FIVE house announcements, no scarezones and no show announcements (yet) but Academy of Villains will most likely be back this year, and no food or merchandise announcements, but those typically come in the final weeks leading up to the event.
As of today we are 66 days out from the opening Scareremonies and I couldn’t be more excited! Tickets for the event are on sale and can be purchased online here, I would definitely suggest getting them online since you can save around $53 on single-night tickets and $10 on multi-night tickets compared to gate prices. You can also add any tours, express passes and Scareactor Dinning Experiences when you book online as well. You also have the option of booking not only your HHN tickets but park and hotel together as well.
Enough of the boring stuff let’s get into the fun stuff! HHN 29 will begin on September 6th and run through November 2nd that is a whopping 42 nights! So far there have been 5 houses announced, 3 of them are original concept houses while the other 2 are intellectual properties or IP’s for short.
Stranger Things: Announced 3/27/19
The first announcement we got for the event came back on March 27thand it came was no surprise. This was probably the most popular house at last year’s event, Stranger Things. The wait time last year for this house quickly rose to three hours and it stayed around that long the majority of the night. For this year’s house we know that it is mainly going to focus on season two, but we have been told there will be a scene from season three as well. Now I have a theory as for why they decided to do part of season three this year. Next year will be the 30thyear of the event and for this milestone they don’t want to have the focus be on an IP like Stranger Things. If you would like to see the announcement video for the house you can check it out here!
Nightingale Blood Pit: Announced 4/13/19
Our second announcement came on April 13thfor the first original concept house called Nightingales: Blood Pit. Guests will arrive in Ancient Rome during a draught, and the emperor has declared that the gladiator games will continue until the rains return. With all the bloodshed and death the terrifying nightingales have come to feed on the dead and dying. According to the HHN website this isn’t the first time the nightingales have plagued HHN, but it’ll feature a much different story this time around!
Universal Monsters: Announced 4/29/19
Our third announcement came on April 29thwe got the house I am most looking forward to, Universal Monsters. They did this house last year in Hollywood accompanied with music by Slash. Guests will come face-to-face with Dracula, the Wolfman, Dr. Frankenstein’s Monster, Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Mummy, and possibly even more. Universal is putting in the effort to rejuvenate the hype around it’s classic monsters. Not only have they added some new things to the Monsters Café the past couple years, but they recently redid the store attached to the former Terminator show with a ton of old school memorabilia aimed at its classic monster universe. I usually like to watch the walkthrough videos of the houses before I go, but I am going to see how long I can hold out and not watch this one.
Depths of Fear: Announced 5/21/19
On May 5thwe got our next announcement and it was another original concept house called Depths of Fear. This house mixes one’s fear of water, what lies beneath the surface, and the unknown creatures that lurk there. The website also states that guests will come in contact with creatures called mouthbrooders. If you want to check out more of the description of the house you can do so right here!
Terror of the Yukon: Announced 6/24/19
The most recent announcement actually came on June 24th and it is another original concept, Terror of the Yukon. I am really excited for this house as well! Guests will see the return of the yeti for this house. Now at last year’s event guests experienced the Swamp Yeti, this time you will travel to the Yukon to get a glimpse of these dangerous creatures in a much colder environment. Anytime there is a snow element to a house it is beautifully terrifying, I look forward to experiencing this frozen tundra. This will definitely be a nice house to go through to help escape the Florida heat.
So far the speculation map that is floating around has been pretty accurate. If you would like to check it out for yourself you can find ithere. There have also been some leaks from HHN Hollywood that pretty much confirms that Ghostbusters will be at the event and it will most likely come to Orlando as well. I am not too sure how this house will play out. HHN does houses all the time that aren’t scary but I just don’t see how this house will work.
With the 4th of July this week they will be taking a break from announcements. The good thing is now that Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorcycle Adventure has opened and the Endless Summer Resort is also open there is nothing standing in our way! You best believe that in the weeks to come we will be flooded with announcements. I can’t wait to be back in the fog, having some shark attacks at Finnegan’s and feeling the energy that is Horror Nights.
UPDATES:
Ghostbusters: Announced 7/17/19
Alright everyone we finally got an update! With the event 48 days away it’s about darn time. On July 17th it was finally confirmed that Ghostbusters will be making an appearance at both Hollywood and Orlando. Now this comes as no surprise, as mentioned before there was a few leaks on Hollywoods end that showed casting for this house. I personally don’t know how I feel about this house but to do look forward to seeing the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man in all his glory. According to the website this house will follow the original 1984 movie and only that movie (thank goodness), I love Kristen Wiig and those ladies but that movie was a stinker. Guests will get to experience some of the best sets of the movie and also the best spirits, phantoms and specters. I also feel like the merchandise for this houses will be pretty awesome since this is the 35th anniversary of the movie. If you would like to see the promo video put out for the house you can check it out here! Announcements should be rolling in pretty regularly now with the event right around the corner, keep a look out for more updates to come.
Killer Klowns From Outer Space: Announced 7/25/19
July 25th we got another house update, the house is based on the ridiculous 1988 film Killer Klowns From Outer Space. Now I had never seen this movie until last year, Dan and I watched it because it was a scarezone at HHN28. It is outlandish but funny and a cult classic also this was my favorite scarezone last year. These Klowns have descended on earth and wrap humans into cotton candy cocoons and suck out their brains will silly straws. Along with this announcement we got another hype video, which you can check out here! Now next weekend is Midsummer Scream, which is a halloween convention held in Long Beach California. Last year we got an announcement for the event and also concept art for the Stranger Things house. I don’t believe that Orlando creative is going to be there this year so if there is an announcement it will most likely only relate too HHN Hollywood. With the event 6 weeks out announcements will be flying in, we have 7 of the 10 house. Hopefully we’ll get a scarezone announcement soon and information on the show.
Us: Announced 8/07/19
Okay guys we are a month away from opening scaremonies and we got another announcement today (August 7th)!! Now this really isn’t too big of a surprise but Jordan Peele’s Us will be haunting guests nightmares in both Hollywood and Orlando. Now when I first heard the rumor for this house I wasn’t too excited, and I’m still a little unsure how to feel about it. The movie was really good but I’m a little worried with how it will translate to a house. But I will defiantly go through it and keep an open mind about it. I can say though it will be terrifying and the soundtrack is going to really make this house. HHN released a promo video for the house and you can see it here. Guests will go through the Wilson family beach house, Santa Cruz Pier and the underground tunnels where the Tethered live.
Also I am proud to announce that The Halloween Corner now has a podcast under its belt. You can check out the first to episodes on our SoundCloud Halloween Corner Nights. Not only is there a podcast we also have a Twitter and an Instagram account. Make sure to give us a follow so that you can stay up to date on all things HHN.
We finally have all our houses!!! Sorry I’m a little behind in updating the blog but I’ve been busy helping to get our podcast off the ground and setting up all the social media for it. But here we are our last two houses, we got an original house called Graveyard Games and the not so surprising IP house House of 1000 Corpses. I will breakdown each of the houses below!
Graveyard Games: Announced 8/08/19
On August 8th the original house Graveyard Games was announced, and I am very interested in this house. This house has been in the works since 2017 when the Universal staff went on a trip across the pond to visit the historic Highgate Cemetery. The stories around this graveyard sound like something out of a movie and are said to have inspired the movie Dracula A.D. 1972. Back in the late 60’s and early 70’s it was said that a group had cornered and staked a vampire through the heart in the graveyard. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves, talk about overcrowding. When reading about this house on the site guests will venture into the Ascension Parish Cemetery were you can expect to run in with ghosts as you navigate your way through the cemetery. There is also an interactive aspect to this house, while you are waiting in line you can open your Facebook Messenger app to the Halloween Horror Nights page where you can talk with local teens and storytellers of the town. You can learn more about the legend that plague this town and the cemetery. Nice way to kill sometime when the wait times skyrocket.
House of 1000 Corpses: Announced 8/14/19
The last house to be announced was no surprise since it had been speculated pretty hard since the first house was announced. Guests will get the chance to experience Rob Zombies 2003 House of 1000 Corpses. Now I had not season this movie until a few days ago, to prepare for its announcement. Now if you have never seen this movie let me just say HOLY CRAP it is bizarre, gross, and all around weird. As we were watching it I knew immediately this would be the house that I went through holding on to Dan and looking at the floor. With that being said I also could see how it could shine as a house, there is so much that the creative team can work with. I will also say that this will most likely be the grosses, horror house of the event. Be prepared to bring a change of underpants!
We have also been given all the Scarezones and Academy of Villains show, I will cover that in a new blog post so be on the look out!
HHN28 should also be know as The Year That Eden Faced Her Fears and did Eight Houses!Yes you read that correctly, it only took three years but I finally did more than three houses. This season is probably the most excited I have been. I loved the 80’s theme and as Dan said “this year was catered to me.” This is also the first year that we went three nights. The first night we went was one of those nights that we weren’t getting the Express Pass. If we could do a house or two, then great, if not it wasn’t a big deal. Just being at the event and enjoying the scare zones was enough. It also gave me a chance to take photos (which I need to practice my nighttime photography more). We did manage to do a few houses that night and I even did my first house without a conga-line of people. It was like Dan and I had Slaughter Sinema to ourselves. Now I must say that I did that house completely with my eyes closed hiding behind Dan. But I still did it so SUCK IT!! Over the course of the next two nights I would go on to do that house four times; and in case you’re wondering my eyes were open the three other times. The two houses I didn’t do were Dead Exposure Patient Zerobecause we were pretty sure I would have an anxiety attack from all the strobe lights and The Horrors of Blumhouse. I mostly didn’t do that one out of protest because I am tired of The Purge and Happy Death Day isn’t my cup of tea either. Also by day two I was beginning to sound like Marge Simpson, I started to lose my voice from all the screaming. Dan had to order for me when we would go up to the food and drink tents because of this. But enough about all that lets dive into the scare zones and houses.
Scarezones
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Vamp ’85
Revenge of Chucky
The Harvest
Twisted Traditions
First up Killer Klowns from Outer Space, when this scare zone was announced I had heard of the movie but had never seen it. So Dan and I rented it one weekend just to get the storyline. It is everything you want in a cheesy 80’s horror film. We loved this scare zone, it was the most crowded one because people loved taking selfies with the Klowns. That would kind of clog things up but it was such a fun area. One of the best things we saw as we exited our Stay & Scream holding area were two of the Klowns walking after a Universal staff member who happened to be carrying cupcakes trying to get her to give them one. It ended in a standoff and the woman finally walking away as the as the Klowns looked very disappointed.
Spikey the Klown with his tracking balloon dog
Rudy the Klown
Shorty & (maybe) Talls waiting for their next victims
Rudy stalking one of the Terenzi Brothers
Klowns following the lady with the cupcakes
Klowns about to battle
Rosebud the Klown
Victim trapped in cotton candy
Slim the Klown
Next up was Vamp ’85,Welcome to Time Square in the midst of ringing in the New Year. Vamps have taken center stage with performances from dancers and some of your favorite artists of the 80’s. This was a fun scare zone because of the energy and the music. The only downside to me was the size of the crowd each time the ball would drop. The news crews covering the “ball dropping” were funny to watch interact with guests of the event and with the other each other.
Vamp waiting to strike
New women about to be bitten
News 18
New Year’s Eve Party Goer
The next scare zone was Revenge of Chucky,now I have never seen any of the Chucky movies but this was an interesting scare zone. Workers from the toy company roamed the streets with life-size toys. Taking center stage was Chucky himself, if you were brave enough to step on up you could get roasted by Chuck. I took my turn talking with my fellow ginger but since I worked in the Film/TV industry Chucky ended up asking more for work than roasting me. Other people were given a good tongue lashing by the psycho doll and it was fun to listen to what he had to say. The only thing I didn’t like about this scare zone was there was a grown man wearing a diaper and babyface mask and it was incredibly uncomfortable.
Monkey Mayhem
Every so often you would get sprayed with water walking by the Monkeys
Operation come to life
The dog himself Chucky
The Harvestwas an interesting scare zone; it was as if a plague had come over the Town of Carey’s crops. Most of the scareactors had pumpkins for heads and could blend in everywhere in this zone. These scareactors looked like they were spewing their insides. At night they would light up and they looked really cool. I loved walking through and watching people try and get a closer look at the props and being scared because a scareactor was hiding in plain site. They also threw some of the Trick ‘r Treatkids into this zone which to me I didn’t think they needed.
Daytime stilt-walker pumpkin
Stilt-walker pumpkin at night
Abandoned building outside The Harvest scarezone
Rotting Pumpkin
Welcome to the Township of Carey, OH
The last scare zone, Twisted Traditions,was a little confusing. At first glance it seemed like they might have characters from the different houses roaming the streets (which they have done in previous years). But they had scareactors who looked like they belonged in The Harvest. It was neat to see the little stages that represented the houses of the event though. This scarezone was right when you entered the park, as I’ve previously stated it can get a bit crowded. They also pump a lot of the famous HHN fog into this area making it even harder to see where you’re going.
They’re heeeereeeeee
Houses
Slaughter Sinema
Poltergeist
Carnival Graveyard: Rust in Pieces
Seeds of Extinction
Scary Tales: Deadly Everafter
Stranger Things
Halloween 4
Trick r’ Treat
Dead Exposure: Patient Zero
The Horrors of Blumhouse 2
First up for houses is Slaughter Sinema, this one was by far one of my favorite houses! Even though the first time we went through it I had my eyes closed the whole time. It was brilliantly done and very entertaining. Based off of rejected movies that Universal never got to make, be warned lurking at the end of the house lived the elusive Swamp Yeti! In the HHN tribute store you could custom make your own t-shirts and I chose the Swamp Yeti movie poster.
My custom made shirt from Horror Ink
This next house makes me wish we had done the Unmasking Tour, Carnival Graveyard: Rust in Pieces. There was just so much going on. Hidden throughout this house were pieces from old rides, and past HHN houses and scare zones. Not only was this house beautiful to walk through, but it was also interactive. There were two giant red buttons that guests could hit and they would activate scares. I really did like that you could spot little Easter eggs from previous years and old rides, I think the two that really stood out were a Jack the Clown picture and a prop from the old Dueling Dragons ride (RIP Dragons, but from what I’ve heard Hagrid’s is Amaaaaaazebaaaaalls).
Snack Bar sign outside of Slaughter Sinema
Another of the original concept houses was Seeds of Extinction, or as Dan and I liked to refer to it as “Zombie Plants.” For whatever reason, we just could never remember the actual name. Seeds of Extinctionis based on Earth after it has been hit with a meteor. The meteor has caused the plants to mutate and come to life and they have eaten most of humanity. (I only say most because there is some debate of if the people walking through are still alive or not). Who knew that plants could be so scary! This was another area where the scareactors could hide in plan site and you wouldn’t even know it until it was too late. This house made use of the slanted hallway like in HHN27. Also while waiting to be released from Stay & Scream Dan and I learned of an Easter egg for Aliensin the maze.
Next up is Scary Tales: Deadly Everafter,I believe this is the third year that HHN has done this house. But each time the tales change. As you walked through this house you came across the Three Little Pigs who have turned the tables and killed the Big Bad Wolf. Humpty Dumpty who did not get put back together again and a flying Wicked Witch (just to name a few) who welcomes you as you enter, like in The Fallen this house utilized wirework to make the Wicked Witch flyover guests as they entered her castle. I look forward to seeing another version of this house in a couple of years. But it’s worth mentioning that this particular maze always looks amazing. It’s always well dressed and features some of the best and most detailed set design. So be on the lookout for this maze again, it’s in one of the soundstages near Rip Ride Rockit.
Trick r’ Treat house front
Stranger Things prop from Twisted Tradition scarezone
Halloween 4 prop from Twisted Tradition scarezone
Okay now this next house was a big draw for many people and the wait time could up to three hours over the course of the night. Obviously I’m talking about Stranger Things andthis house was AMAZING! I loved this house because it felt you stepped right into the show. Now this house wasn’t really scare, yes the Demogorgons were terrifying but they were also well done. I also give the casting team a lot of credit, the people they casted to play the kids look exactly like them (but mind you, the actors were, in fact, adults). I will say thankfully we had Express Passes and the most I think we waited was 25 minutes. They are bringing this house back for HHN29 and we have heard that most of the house will revolve around season two but the very end of the house will take place in season three.
No surprise that the next house, Halloween 4, was at the event since there had been a new movie released about this character. Many people thought that they might do a house based off the new movie but the problem was the movie would come out after HHN had started which would give too much of the movie away. Halloween 4 is not one of the better Halloweenmovies but this houses wasn’t terrible. It was lit well and there was a lot of space, which was a nice change. The house felt like the scenes were more staged than other houses. I also think it felt like the shortest walkthrough.
Following the success of the scare zone last year Trick ‘r Treat got it’s own house in 2018. This house was cute but in my opinion it works better as a scare zone. Many people enjoyed this house because of the cult following it has. It did feel like you had walked into the movie but it was just okay as a house
Now we come to the two houses I didn’t not do this year, Dead Exposure: Patient Zero & The Horrors of Blumhouse 2. First we’ll talk about Dead Exposure: Patient Zero,unfortunately there isn’t too much I can say about this house. After watching the walk through videos I figured this house wasn’t for me. Dan on the other hand braved this house without me and when he came out told me it was one I wouldn’t have liked. This house is based on a disease outbreak in Paris. Guests walk through a pop-up quarantine site and board a train to safety but it gets overtaken by the infected. I will say I liked how they teased this house. The Twitter page for HHN released postcards from a couple who were vacationing in Paris when the outbreaks started, and the postcards would get more and more grim. If you want to take a look at said tweets check out the thread right here!
Finally The Horrors of Blumhouse 2, Dan decided to go into this one because 1) he wanted to do all 10 houses and 2) the wait time was 5 mins when we got to that part of the park. The first part of the house was Happy Death Day, this movie is pretty much a horror version of Groundhogs Day. Guests walked through the same scene over and over again, each time watching the characters die in different ways. The second part of the house was themed afterThe Purge, I don’t feel like I missed much because they have done this movie before and it’s usually a scarezone.
To go along with the 80’s theme and Stranger Things, they set up some arcade games in one of the park stores. The tokens were also themed with the HHN28 logo and Halloween Horror Nights on the other side. I got some to keep and got some to play the games with because they had Galaga and I absolutely LOVE Galaga!
Tokens to play the games
My score for Galaga
Dig Dug
Arcade Games
Also this year saw the return of the Academy of Villains stage show, but this year it was located on the Fear Factor show stage where the old Bill & TedHalloween show used to be. AOV was a cyber punk show, it pitted humans against alien robots. It was really good and had a lot more going for it than the previous year
Academy of Villains stage
Every year they also set up a Tribute store that sells items that go along with that year’s houses, scarezones and shows. For this particular year when you walked in, the first half of the store was themed to Trick r’ Treat and the other half was themed to Stranger Things. The second side was really cool, it looked like you had walked into the Upside Down and there was even dust particles floating in the air. This is the store where I bought that previously-mentioned Swamp Yeti shirt. I really hope that comes back because it cut down the chance of you buying something everyone else had bought as well so it makes the trip a little more personable.
Trick r’ Treat side
Stranger Things side
Overall this year kicked ass! We have pretty much been talking about it and speculating for this year’s HHN since we left. HHN29 begins on September 6th, 2019 and we are soooooo close, we’ve only had four house announcements to date. We do know that it will be 80’s themed again which is pretty cool and I get to breakout my Stranger Things attire once again! Stay tuned because my next post will cover what has been announced so far for HHN29 and I will keep building on that until the event starts. And then after our trip in October I will post my review of the year. Until then stay spooky my friends!
Dan & I eat the begining of the night
Dan and I after being at the event for a quiet a few hours lol
Voodoo Doughnuts (they had one that looked like a tombstone for HHN)
News 18 van, the news broadcast for covering Vamp ’85
After having to miss Halloween Horror Nights 26, we are back for 27. This year Soul Collectors have requested your soul. Those brave enough to step up and submit their souls where told that they would get access to exclusive content. As in previous year, this year there is no icon. I will warn you this post will be better (hopefully) than the one about HHN25 but I unfortunately only made it through 4 houses. I will be unable to elaborate what went on in the other 5 houses, besides what I saw on walkthroughs or heard from Dan after he did them. Before I dive into the scarezones and house I’ll give a little more detail about the Soul Collectors.
Soul Collectors
To help build suspense and excitement for this year Universal Creative decided to run a (kind of) promotion. Not much was known at first, when people went to the HHN website you were asked to ‘Sacrifice your souls’ and join the Soul Collectors. Soul Collectors would not only get exclusive updates but rewards as well. When all this was released you best believe that I jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the Soul Collectors group! They had a countdown clock and everything. I eagerly waited to see what updates and rewards I would get. Besides digital wallpapers and sneak peaks as to what might be coming to HHN 27, I was a bit disappointed with the whole thing. When the time came for Dan and I go to Florida, I got a little more excited to see how the whole Soul Collectors thing played into the event. And let me tell you it was….nothing, absolutely nothing. Besides branding nothing from the Soul Collectors played into any part of the event. To help build suspense and excitement for this year Universal Creative decided to run a (kind of) promotion. Not much was known at first, when people went to the HHN website you were asked to ‘Sacrifice your souls’ and join the Soul Collectors. Soul Collectors would not only get exclusive updates but rewards as well. When all this was released you best believe that I jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the Soul Collectors group! They had a countdown clock and everything. I eagerly waited to see what updates and rewards I would get. Besides digital wallpapers and sneak peaks as to what might be coming to HHN 27, I was a bit disappointed with the whole thing.
After our time was up at the event and we came home, a couple weeks later it was announced on social media that there was going to be an exclusive meet-up for the Soul Collectors. Now this really burned my biscuits and even more so when I received and invite in the mail to sign up and be a part of the meet-up. Like I said poorly executed, had Dan and I known that that was a possibility we would have planned our trip for that time. At the meet-up people were put into teams and competed in various activates. One event included eating a bunch of wings, I love wings!!! Besides the poorly executed Soul Collectors thing the event was great! Like the first year Dan had to do most of the houses by himself because I was to anxious to do them. I spent most of my times walking through Trick ‘r Treat and Invasion! But I had a better time this year because I knew what to expect, I had planned better and researched the house more. Enough off all the chit chat though lets dive into the scarezones and houses!
ScareZones
Trick r’ Treat
Invasion!
Altars of Horror
Festival of the Deadliest
The Purge
Until this HHN I hadn’t heard of Trick ‘r Treat.When it was announced Dan and I rented it and watched it so that we knew what would be in the scarezone. This was my favorite scarezone of the year, the movie wasn’t terrible but it defiantly screams cult classic. The scarezone looked like you were in the neighborhood from the movie and was pretty cute. I know what you’re thinking, “a horror movie shouldn’t be cute.” But the scare zone was cute and I loved it! There were pumpkins carved and hanging from all the trees and they have multiple Sam (character from the movie) hiding throughout the scarezone. It made it that much harder to find the real one roaming the street.
This was one of the decoy Sam’s
Sam with half his mask
Closer picture of Sam with half his mask missing
Trick r’ Treat scarezone
One of the houses from Trick r’ Treat
Trick r’ Treat scarezone being lite by the fire from the AOV show
Trick r’ Treater
Trick r’ Treaters
My second favorite scarezone of the night was Invasion! It was like you stepped into a 50’s Sci-fi movie. Aliens have crashed landed on earth and the military as been deployed to intervene. Unfortunately our military was no match for the aliens and they were captured and have experimenting on them and implanted devices into their skin to control them. This scarezone really came to life after the sun went down, all the lights and the fog made it truly feel like you had stumbled upon an alien crash zone.
UFO prop
One of the head aliens with a captured soldier
Head alien
Head alien
Dan and I
UFO at night
UFO at night
Worker aliens
Next up was Altars of Horror this scarezone had icons from each of the houses represented. The twins from The Shining, the women in black from Insidious and even people from The Purge (even though they had their own separate scarezone. This zone was the first you encountered when coming in the park and was pumped full of smoke making it even harder to see the scarezctors and making it easier for them to scare guests. Because this one is right after you enter the park and right next to two house line entrances, the area can get a little crowded.
The lady in Black
Purger
Festival of the Deadliest was an interesting scarezone, scareactors walked around in animal skull masks. There were ladies on stilts and go-go dancers on stages through out the zone. This zone got me every time I went through, there was tons of smoke and also there were caves set up through out that scareactors could hide in and jump out at unsuspecting guests. One of the creepiest things in this scare zone was a pregnant lady with words scratched into her belly as if a demon babe had tried to bust out. A scareactor also told me they liked in this zone because I scare easily. I think my favorite thing about this scarezone was that usually the scareactors stay in their designated areas. It’s like there is an invisible line that they can’t cross. There was this group of girls that were easy to scare, so naturally that is going to attract more of the scareactors to come after you. Two of the ladies on stilts followed them all the way to this invisible line and the girls yelled “you can’t cross” (or something like that) and the scareactor took a second and then continued walking at the girls who screamed and ran away.
Entrance to the scarezone
Keeps of the scarezone
One of the stages
Ladies on stilts
As much as I don’t like The Purge; mostly because I believe that the government could see these movies and think that it might be a good idea. With that being said it does make for a good scare zone. Especially this year because they were a lot more active than they had been in the past. There was box truck that would drive around kidnapping people. They were then dragged to the top of a school bus where they were given the choice to join or be thrown into a Purge game put on my the wealthy. The famous HHN fog gets pumped in and makes it very hard to see the Purgers coming. When I walk through this scarezone I makes sure to say I’m for the Purge and tell everyone that I love their outfit so I can try and keep from being scared.
About to enter The Purge scarezone
She caught me taking her picture
The box truck that drove around, this is where a mini show happened
The Auction
Houses
The Shining
Dead Waters
The Fallen
Ash vs. Evil Dead
Scarecrow: The Reaping
Hive
The Horrors of Blumhouse
SAW: The Games of Jigsaw
American Horror Story: V2
One of the four houses that I did was The Shining, I was really excited to do this house and it didn’t disappoint! This house was amazing it was as if you had stepped foot into Stanley Kubrick’s film. Not only were the blood elevators present but they also had the ballroom complete with the living dead. My favorite part was the snow maze, with a frozen Jack at the end. I was happy that they did the snow maze because at HHN 25 there was a snow scene in the Body Collectors house and I was sad I missed it. Interesting fact about this house out in Hollywood, James Franco made a guest appearance as “Jack” one night.
Soul Collector Props
Costume from American Horror Story
Costume from Ash vs. Evil Dead
The Grady Twins
The second of four houses I did was Dead Waters. This house was based on an original concept of Universal’s, guest stepped into the bayous of New Orleans. When guests entered into the houses, you were greeted by a partially decayed paddleboat. Overrun with voodoo witches and witch doctors. Many said that this paid tribute to the Voodoo Queen who was an icon at a past event. As we were going through this house I made a comment (I can’t remember what it was exactly) but one of the scareactors followed me and said, “we’re all mad here!” Which scared me even more but it was an amazing house and I would have love to gone through it with the lights on. There was so much detail I know I missed. There was also a section of the house where the floor slanted to make it feel like the ship was actually sinking which was a nice touch. This effect has been and continues to be used in houses. But if you are someone who doesn’t want to walk on the slanted floor or are in a wheelchair there is a house attended at that part of the house to point it out and right next to it they have a flat route as well.
The third house I did was called The Fallen, again this was another original concept house. This house was visually stunning, and had scareactors who fought in mid-air. Guests walked through a cathedral that is locked in a battle of humans and fallen angels. The wirework done by the scareactors was a great addition to the houses. In a small hallway in the house there was a lightening effect and a Fallen Angel leapt out at you and at another section there were two Angels locked in battle above guest heads. The one thing that I didn’t like about this house was that before you actually got into the house you had to walk through a make shift aisle with black curtains hanging on both sides. I was so afraid someone was going to pop out at any minute.
Dan and I hanging out with Sam
The fourth and last house I did was Ash vs. Evil Dead, this houses was based off the STARZ show Ash vs. Evil Dead. Before the event we had not watched the show, I had heard about it but knew nothing about it. I had seen the remake of Evil Dead though so that is really all I had to go on. This house was more of a joke house instead of your typical scary house. The hero Ash was always there to save the day with his sidekicks Kelly and Pablo. At the very end of the house Ash is hanging out at his trailer in a Hawaiian shirt offering guests beer from a keg. Which he slashes open with his chainsaw hand, spraying guest (i.e. Dan and I) with “beer”. I did like this house seemed like you had more room to walk and the sets didn’t seem too close to you.
Hanging out at Finnegan’s for Stay & Scream.
This next house there isn’t much that I can say about it, Dan had to do this one alone. After watching the video I didn’t feel like I would do well in the house. Scarecrows have come to life and are attacking a farm. When Dan emerged he noted that it was good that I sat this one out because I wouldn’t have liked it. Another house that Dan had to do on his own was Hive. Another original concept this house belonged to Nicodemus Felling but now houses a nest of bloodthirsty vampires. As guest traverse through Felling’s house, their main goal is to make it out alive and not wake the vampires. Unfortunately this is Horror Nights and the vampires awaken and try and keep the guests from making it out alive. From my blog about HHN 25 it’s no secret that I am not a fan of The Purge, so I decided to sit out The Blumhouse of Horrors house. This year the house was rumored to have been The Conjuring but deals feel through and had to be changed at the last minute. So they did a split house of The Purge and Sinister, I knew I couldn’t do another Blumhouse house, especially a house that had creepy children and the evil demon Bughuul. I also didn’t feel like I was missing too much since two years prior I did the Insidious and The Purge houses.
The last two houses I knew I wasn’t going to do when they were announced because I’m not a fan of the SAW movies and I never make it very far into the American Horror Story. I have only seen one of the SAW movie to date and I slept through most of it. I’m not a big fan of too much gore and also this is something that isn’t based on something supernatural. I have actually only seen the whole first season of American Horror Story. I have tried to watch other episodes but I usually only make it 2 or 3 episodes in before I call it quits because it becomes too gory.
Academy of Villains: Afterlife stage
There were two shows this year Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure and Academy of Villains: Afterlife. I have not seen any of the Bill & Ted movies but I do know the bases of the movies. This was the first time that we went to see this show, we figured we should experience it once because this was the farewell tour for the Wild Stallions, to many guests displeasure. It was a highly entertaining show though, with lots of pop cultural references, singing, dancing and scantily clade men and women. Even though we had never seen the movies it didn’t matter as long as you knew Bill, Ted, Death and their traveling phone booth you were good to go. The next show Academy of Villains: Afterlife is a dance troop. This was our first time seeing these performers and they were amazing. Unfortunately Hurricane Irma came through Florida and destroyed AOV’s stage. But by the time Dan and I went you couldn’t tell anything had happened. This show had everything from break dancing, bone breakers and even a guy who painted and dance at the same time. They also made a joke about Irma during their show and it was really funny and I was happy that they could bounce back and poke fun at the situation.
Hope you enjoyed this recap of HHN27 and stay tuned for my next post, talking about last years event HHN28. I won’t give anything away just yet but I will say that the theming for this one was amazing! And I bet my record for the number of houses I made it through!!
Okay this blog is going to give some backstory and insight into Halloween Horror Nights or HHN. This event takes place in Florida, Hollywood California, Singapore and Japan. Now there are probably going to be some terms that you’ve not heard or maybe you have but don’t know what they mean. At the bottom of the post you’ll find an glossary for these terms. Now I have only visited HHN in Florida so that is where I will be focusing on. Below I will also link to a good book to checkout that goes into more detail about the event at the other locations.
HHN lanyards from 27 & 28
HHN has been going on at Universal Orlando since 1991, that’s 29 years! Since the start of the event it has grown and so has the fan base. In later blogs I am going to dive deeper into my visits but I just want to give a little backstory and information to those who haven’t attended or who have heard about it but still aren’t completely sure what HHN is all about. HHN is an after hours separate ticketed event that takes place at Universal Studios Orlando, Universal Studios Hollywood, Singapore and Japan. Now since it is a special event you will need a daytime park ticket and a separate ticket to HHN. It is a mix of film/tv with some original concepts as well. When it first began the event was only 3 nights with one haunted house. Now going into its 29th year HHN is 42 nights with 10 houses and 5 scarezones*. Guests are able to step into some of their favorite movies and tv shows of the horror genre. When they are not going through the houses they are immersed in beautifully done scarezones, where scareactors** roam the streets. Depending on the year, the event either has an over all them or is headed by an icon***.
When planning your trip there are a few different ticket options that one can look into; there are hotel ticket packages that you can bundle your hotel, daytime tickets and HHN tickets all in one. If you are from FL or if you decided stay in an off-site hotel or an airbnb you can purchase single night tickets. They also offer Multi-night tickets; these tickets are popular with people who live out of state or out of the country. You can pick how many nights you would like to go, there is also an option for multi-night with an express pass. Many people don’t like to get express passes but I love to get them because the wait times can get pretty high. Last year Stranger Things was a house and the wait time got up to almost 3 hours every night. Besides tickets HHN also offers two different tour options; RIP Tour and Unmasking Tour. The RIP Tour is pretty much like an express pass, you get a guide who will give you backstory on the houses and get you in front of the normal line. The Unmasking tour you get to choose between a 3 house or 6 house tour. These tours take place during the day with the lights on in the house and no scareactors. Guests are able to see the immense detail that you miss when you are going through with the lights off. You can also take pictures in certain areas on the Unmasking Tour, your guide will let you know when it is okay to do so. Make not that if you get the tour tickets you still need to have purchased an HHN ticket. I don’t believe that you need a daytime ticket for the RIP Tour. If you have a large group going you can call and set up the tour so that only you and your group are on the tour. If you’re a small group you will have other people put into your group.
I know at some events like this the scareactors are allowed to touch you, but not here. People may try to tell you differently but they are not allowed to touch you. But just be aware that while in scarezones they may bump into because of the amount of people going through the streets. I accidentally touched a scareactor ones and apologized profusely, but they just laughed and said “we like you here, you’re easy to scare.” But if you are caught harassing a scareactor you will be thrown out of the event and depending on the severity of your actions you could be fined or banned. Now if you did what I did and don’t mean to actually touch them and you apologize you’re fine. Also the scarezones can get crowed and you accidentally bump into or be bumped into by a scareactor.
People are always asking “what is a good age to bring me kids?” the website suggest 13 years or older but I have seen younger kids. If they are comfortable with horror movies and being scared I honestly don’t have a problem with them being there but I hate to see a parent trying to make their kid go through a house when they don’t want too. Heck I’m 29 years old and I have sat out of houses and even cried in some.
I would also suggesting doing Stay & Scream****, around 5pm they begin to close the park to guests who aren’t taking part in HHN. But if you have a day time ticket to the park and are going to be going to HHN Stay & Scream if your best friend. All you have to do is have both your tickets on you and be at the park before 5pm ( I recommend getting there no later than 4:45pm). Once you are in the park they have designated holding areas for the event. They will scan your HHN ticket and you just wait until they drop the ropes at 6pm. We like to stay in the Finnegan’s holding area, it’s our favorite restaurant in the park. Also the bartenders are drinks are amazing, it does start to get a little packed inside but you can also hangout in the streets around the restaurant. They also have holding areas in Simpon’s Land and I believe in the area near the animal actors pavilion. Stay & Scream means you don’t have to wait in the massive crowd outside the gates and are able to get in line for some of the houses before the wait time gets too high. We like to head to the back of the park because we can usually knock out 3-4 houses before using our Express Pass and can go back to those houses again.
Many people try and get a scareactor to stop and pose for a picture, now there is a wrong way and a right way to do it. Depending on the zone, they may only stop for a brief second (they are working) so make sure that you’re ready to take the picture if they stop for you. NO FLASH!! At night it can be difficult to take pictures but you need to make sure your settings on changed on whatever devices you’re using to take pictures. I think that taking pictures of them interacting with their scarezone and other guests. Candid photos are more interesting than a bunch of posed photos. But if you would like to get some pictures with scareactors, you should look into the Scareactor Dinning Experience. This is again a separate ticket that you would have to buy but it includes a buffet at Monsters Cafe inside of Universal and they have scareactors walking around while you eat. They are able to take the time to talk with you and take photos, not every character will be in there but they have quite a few different ones roaming around.
Like any trip it’s good to do your research, there are nights when HHN doesn’t happen so you would have to find another activity to do on those nights. If you are scared like me you can checkout walkthrough videos on YouTube. HHN usually does a media event where they invite bloggers and other media people out to experience the event and they allow them to record going through the houses (they do ask them to not post the whole thing so as to not give everything away). You are able to get a feel for the house and know what what you’re getting into. I also like to take earplugs with me and put them in right before I go into a house. The house are usually really loud so being able to dampen some of the noise really helps. Check out the links below for the book I was talking about earlier and the glossary of terms. Also just a recap of some Tips & Tricks that we have figured out during our trips.
Tips & Tricks
Take advantage of Stay and Scream: arrive in the park by 4:30pm and head to one of the holding areas. Dan and I really enjoy the Finnegan’s holding area, great drinks and the bartenders are amazing. I would suggest the Shark Attack if you are looking for a good mixed drink instead of a beer.
Fast Passes (FP) are your best friend! Not only do they get you into the houses faster you can also use them for the rides as well. If you do Stay and Scream you don’t need to use you FP right away you can do the houses that have shorter wait times and do those houses again later in the night with the FP.
Getting your FP early, you can get them online before the event. You will save money this way, when you buy them at the event you will be paying and arm and a leg. Also sometimes you can get FP for half price after 10pm. Don’t be afraid to stop into a restaurant for some food or take a break in Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley.
Don’t be afraid to stop into a restaurant for some food or take a break in Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley.
Last piece of advice, arrive early and stay late. Like I said before getting there early you can get to houses without lines. The same goes for staying late, the crowds start to die down about 11pm, which leaves you with 2 to 3 hours (depending on which night you are there) with less people in the park.
*Scarezone – and area of a street in Universal that has scareactors roaming the streets. Scarezones have a theme and there are props and fog through out them to help hide the scareactors.
**Scareactor – a person employed by Universal to dress up as a character either in a house or scarezone.
*** Icon- an icon is like the Ring Leader of the event, over the years there have been numerous amounts of icons. The most famous being Jack the Clown.
**** Stay & Scream – getting into the park before 5pm and waiting in a holding area inside the park before the event starts.
Thanks to the power of social media I found out about this awesome pop-up horror exhibit that was happening, the only downside was that it was in LA and I’m here in GA. Well as luck would have it my boyfriend had an interview out in LA in May, and on my last day there we took a trip to I Like Scary Movies Experience! http://www.ilikescarymoviesexperience.com This is an immersive exhibit, with some classic horror movie scenes and some larger than life props. Guess have the opportunity to explore 5 different classic scary movie; The Shinning, Beetlejuice, IT, Nightmare on Elm Street & The Lost Boys. Tickets are sold every 15 minutes in hopes of cutting down on people waiting to take pictures in each room. We went on a Sunday afternoon/evening and there were maybe 6 other people in our time slot so we didn’t have to wait too long and were able to experience some of the rooms without anyone else in there with us. It took us about 30-40 minutes to go through the whole thing, now we didn’t take a ton of pictures and only had our phones with us. So depending on how elaborate you want your pictures to look you could spend around the same amount of time or more. Since you go at your own pace you really get to dictate how long you’re there. Tickets are only $39 which I honestly don’t think is terrible, they also have people in the different rooms that are able to take photos, videos or even boomerangs for you.
The Shinning Elevators. Loved that the blood was made from Room 237 tags.
The first room you walk into is all about The Shinning. This is one of my favorite classic scary movies, I was really excited to step into The Overlook Hotel. They even brought the hedge maze to life. The Grady twins were really creepy and even though I knew they were in the room (from seeing pictures on social media) I still jumped and walked back out of the room. The one thing I am a little sad about is I somehow missed the room with the bathtub in it, but c’est la vie.
All work and no play…
There was a creepy surprise hidden behind the door
Come play with us Danny
Redrum Hedge
After escaping the Grady twins we followed the butterflies to Nightmare on Elm Street and into Freddy’s throne room. Now I have never really seen any of the Elm Street movies (mostly because I was too scared when I was younger) but I really liked the giant Freddy claw. They also had a room that had a throne made out of faces with a Freddy claw, there was red and green fabric around the room and there were faces behind it that would move and push on the fabric.
The giant Freddy claw in the sewer was awesome! There was an employee in the room (to take photos for you if you needed) and they told us that the pipes had been painted with cinnamon. Not only for the smell but also to add to the rust look.
One, two, Freddy’s coming for you…
Again following the butterflies we headed to Derry and the lair of Pennywise the Clown. This area was really cool, it was like you floated down the sewer to an awaiting Pennywise. If you were brave enough to write down your fear you received a penny, but this is no ordinary penny. This penny was stamped with IT himself and I Like Scary Movies on the back. I will say if you are someone who has a fear of clowns this may not be a room you want to explore too much. Especially if you follow the paper boats around you will end up in a pretty frightening room.
You’ll float too
A penny for your fears
The next stop in the exhibit is the Netherworld waiting room and Beetlejuice’s graveyard. I could believe the detail and how much it looked liked the sets from the movie. I was waiting for Michael Keaton to appear if I said Beetlejuice 3 times.
The last movie of the exhibit was The Lost Boys, now I must say I have not seen the movie (sorry Corey Feldman) but I thought the Vampire lair was pretty cool and the giant Chinese takeout container was awesome and a bit disgusting. This is the room we spent the least amount of time in, since we weren’t familiar with it.
The exhibit was only supposed to run until the middle of June but it has been so well received and people are flocking to come and visit that they extended it until July. Now there are only 7 days in July so if we want to go start planning now and buy your tickets before you go. The nice thing is that the website will tell you how many tickets are left for each time slot. There is no word yet if this exhibit will travel around but I really hope it does. I wold love to experience it again. I also think that it would be interesting if every so often they added or rotated in different scary movies. Again it is truly amazing how many people have come to this pop-up exhibit since the majority of the marketing was done through word of mouth and social media. They recently posted that people have visited from every 50 states. One last thing I would like to add is that they do have a small gift shop at the end of the exhibit, which I really liked. They have a limited amount of items and I think once they sell out that is it. I got a really cute tote bag that had The Overlook Hotel on it. So if you’re in the LA area or if you are planning a trip very soon and need something to do I highly recommend check this out!
After surviving my first 2 house (Insidious & The Purge) we stopped to so I could catch my breath and prepare for the next house.
The year is 2015 and this is will lead to many more years of trekking to Universal Studios Orlando to take part in the annual Halloween Horror Nights. Now I will say this isn’t the best year for us but it leads to better planning and the following years will be amazing. Since I don’t remember too much from this event because 1) it was the first one we went to and 4 years ago. 2) I wasn’t prepared for the anxiety the event would give me and didn’t know how to process the event. I will breakdown the scarezones and the houses to the best of my knowledge. I only made it through 3 of the houses, so I will use information from my boyfriend and information I gathered from watching walkthrough videos from the houses.
ScareZones
Scary Tales – Screampunk
Icons
Psychoscreapy – Unleashed
All Night Die-In: Double Feature
Evil’s Roots
The scarezones this year were really cool, my favorite was All Nite Die-In: Double Feature. They had the classic Universal Monsters and classic slasher film characters walking around. Depending on the time though the scareactors were either in color or in black and white. It was also cool to be walking around a rundown drive-in movie theater. Scary Tales – Screampunk took the classic Grimm fairytales and added a steampunk twist to them. Since this was our first time going we were not familiar with the Icons of past events so we didn’t realize that the Icon scarezone was a tribute to them. Like I said this event was 4 years ago so I don’t remember the last two scarezones Psychoscareapy – Unleased or Evil’s Roots.
Houses
Insidious
The Purge
Asylum in Wonderland 3D
Jack Presents: 25 Years of Monsters & Mayhem
Body Collectors: Recollections
Freddy vs. Jason
An American Werewolf in London
Run, Blood, Sweat & Fears
The Walking Dead
For this event there were 9 houses, I only did 3 of them. Since we were living in FL at the time we had annual passes to the park. We were able to go to get into the event for a passholder preview. We got in early before the normal HHN crowd to be able to experience 3 houses before they were let in. I had no idea what the 3 houses were going to be. I was thrown into Insidious first, this house was based on the first movie. You entered into the Lambert household, you must make your way through the house to get to the Further. While in this house I almost pushed my boyfriend into 2 different scareactors trying to get away from them.
A blur picture of The Women in Black from Insidious. (I like that it’s blur though I feel like it captures the feeling of the movie.
Our next was The Purge which is my nightmare come to life. Now I am not a fan of these movies because there is nothing supernatural about them, these are real people coming these crimes. As we walked out of Insidious and were herded to the next house I heard the sirens from the movie go off and I stopped dead in my tracks. Now my boyfriend did ask me if I wanted to turn around but we were almost to the house and I felt silly doing that. I wish I would have, I did not like this house one bit. It was too loud and there was so much fog being pumped in, I at one point tried to ask a team member working in the house to let me out a chicken door because I did not think I could finish the house. I did though and then didn’t want to take part in anymore of the houses.
A Purger roaming the streets of Universal
The 3rd house that I did after a few hours was Asylum in Wonderland 3D. When you entered the house you were given 3D glasses to wear as you walked through it, I personally didn’t wear them because 1) they didn’t make anything look 3D and 2) they made me sick. It was a nice house, it wasn’t really scare because of all the bright colors and vibrate paint used. I have watched walkthrough videos of the rest of the houses and I will say the only one that I am said I didn’t get to experience was The Body Collectors – Recollections. The video for it looked amazing and my boyfriend said it more so told a story than trying to scare you. Now I do know that the Body Collectors come and go from the event. There is a really good book called Halloween Horror Nights Unofficial :The Story & Guide. Ripley goes into detail about when the event first started up till the previous year. It has a lot of good information, he also just wrote one about all the different HHN events around the globe. I will put a link down at the bottom to his books.
Jake the Clowns stage show (Jack was the events Icon)
Jack the Clown
In my next blog post I will be able to go into more detail as I did more of the houses and enjoyed the event more. I will also have a post coming up on ways to survive HHN. Until till next time, happy haunting!
The Halloween Corner 