Halloween Horror Nights 32

Hello my spooky friends! This year we decided to go to Universal Studios Orlando Halloween Horror Nights 32 on opening weekend, and let me tell you it was an experience. We usually make our trip to Florida during the second to third week of the event but wanted to try something new this year. My one take away from it was I would prefer not to do opening weekend again. From the weather, to not enough actives to pull in crowds aside from houses and lines for food feeling like they were as long as the house lines it was a lot to take in, so let’s dive right into our time in Orlando.

We knew that it was going to be busy and crowded and it was but I think there were a few things that added to the craziness that was opening weekend. Friday around 4:30pm we were waiting to make our way to a stay n scream holding area when a terrible storm hit the area. Not only was is a downpour the lightning was intense and the winds were getting up to 40mph. We saw videos of the umbrellas over the food stand registers being blown away, in the place we were waiting the furniture was being blown all over the place as well. They were struggling to get the park cleared for the event because this storm lasted an hour and people didn’t want to run in the rain or our in the lightning and I couldn’t blame them. This storm obviously made getting HHN started difficult and it was just downhill from there. We didn’t have express this night but we were able to get into two houses and then we just walked around the park. There weren’t scareactors out in the scarezones at that time because of all the rain, we were going to try some of the different food but that was short lived. There were not enough food booths this year, this caused all the lines to be super long. I heard that some people were waiting 45 mins to get a corndog from of the booths. We just decided call it an early night and left around 8pm. On our way out though we did stop in The Dead Coconut Club (some pictures of the decor below) to checkout the theming before heading to the hotel to rest up in hopes that Saturday would be a better night.

Saturday the weather was nicer, no rain just your typical Florida heat and humidity. The line to get into the New York stay n scream was ridiculously long so we choose the Richter’s area instead. Once we were let out we backtracked to Stranger Things 4 and used our express passes before the wait time got too crazy. We had heard that a good amount of the wait times on Friday night with express pass were longer and not really accurate. You should be waiting half of the time of the standby line but it seemed that wasn’t the case for Friday night. I will say though the longest we waited in express was about 35 minutes for The Last of Us, but that wasn’t terrible at all. We ended up doing all the houses Saturday except Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count because it wasn’t high on our list and its express line did seemed backed up every time we walked by. Again we weren’t able to try any of the food from the food booths because the lines were just way too long. We did go to the Peacock bar but that was a disaster. The way in was the same as the way out, they had 4 bars and the lines were getting to be a mess because of the location they couldn’t stretch very far, it was very confusing. We ordered two and the person got the order wrong, when I tried to have them fix it they said they couldn’t sell me two drinks, even though I had just been charged for two drinks and handed two drinks. We finally got it figured out and immediately left the area it was so disorganized. We called it a night at midnight and made our way back to the hotel.

Sunday we were able to get into the New York stay n scream area and got a table at Finnegan’s to have a few drinks and some food while we waited to them to clear the park. I really wanted to try Left Behind Ravioli from The Last of Us food booth, but every time the line was super long. So Sunday after we got done at Finnegan’s we headed to Sting Alley to wait for the booth to open to try and beat the crowd when they let us out of the holding area. We were told that the booth would open at 7pm but while we were standing there at 6pm a manager came over and they moved the barricades over and opened the booth up for people in the stay n scream area. I was first in line and was very excited to be able to try them, I was nervous though because they had a truffle cream on them and I am not a fan of truffles. Surprisingly they didn’t have a strong truffle taste to them and for being $10 you did get a lot of raviolis, I thought it was a good dish. After the food we started doing houses, we started with Stranger Things 4 and then did Chucky just to get it out of the way and then did all the back houses before making our way back to the front. We finished the last house around 11pm and decide to head back to the hotel since we would be driving back home the next morning and wanted to be able to get as much rest as possible.

We had fun at the event but some of the negatives this year I feel were the shows, food and the scarezones. They only had the Nightmare Fuel show this year, they lagoon show didn’t happen that would help to eat up some of the crowds. Yes they had the Deathereaters out but many people would walk in and see them then leave. It wasn’t something that would hold people for 30 minutes or more like the lagoon show would. Next food as I mentioned earlier there were not enough food booths so the lines for the ones that they did have were long and most people didn’t want to stand in them. The little street across from were the Tribute Store is in New York was lined with them last year and this year there was just one booth there and two on the street beside that area. Waiting for food took up a good chunk of your time if you didn’t get in the line early so I feel like a lot of people would skip them so that they could just get in line for the houses. The houses this year were great but the scarezones just seemed to be lacking.In past years I have loved to just sit in them and watch people get scared but this year I didn’t have that feeling. There also weren’t big moments in the zones and many of them felt empty weather it be not a lot of scareactors or props, they just felt like they were all missing something. Again we understood that it was opening weekend and somethings needed to be ironed out but in my opinion having less food booths and only the one show put a damper on the event.

We enjoyed all the houses except Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count, it just didn’t have a good flow to it. Bloodmoon Dark Offerings which I thought wasn’t going to be good was one of my favorites! The scares were alright (the scareactors were amazing) but it wasn’t a scary house. It was however a beautiful house, all the different vantage points and the depth of the house was really cool. The Last of Us was a good the sets were cool and all the Clickers and Bloaters were scary. There were a lot a double and triple scares in the houses this year which was amazing. The Tribute Store was really cool and I was happy to see it back in its original location in the New York area. The concept was a comic shop and it was like you stepped into the pages of the comics themselves.

The creative team and all the team members that make the event happened are amazing. Everyone will find their groove as the event goes on and I can’t wait to see videos from later in the event. Overall we had a great weekend and look forward to next years event, we’ll just be going later in the season next time.

Halloween Horror Nights 32 Preview

Welcome back ghouls & ghoulets! It’s been a while I know, I really dropped the ball with keeping up with posts. We were able to squeeze in a quick trip last year but it was a bit of a rough year if I’m being honest. But we’re not going to bring you down that’s not why we’re here. We’re here to be happy, haunted and spooky! This year Halloween Horror Nights seems to really be leaning into the lore of the entire event. We had teaser videos talking about “the signs are hidden in plan sight,” you can check that video out here. Universal Studios Orlando Florida Halloween Horror Nights 32 is right around the corner, so let’s dive right in and talk all things haunted houses, scarezones, food and merchandise.

Yesterday Universal Orlando dropped all of the houses and scarezones on us at one time, with the exception of 3 of the houses which had found out before yesterdays massive announcement. Let’s talk about the 3 houses we already knew about. Before HHN31 even ended last year we were hit with our first announcement, on October 31^st the last night of the even HHN announced that the fowl mouth, murderous doll Chucky would have his own house at the event. You can have a look at the announcement video here. Now Chucky has had some kind of representation at the event the past few years. HHN28 had the Revenge of Chucky scarezone, demented toys and Good Guy employees roamed around the zone while Chuck was stuck in a Good Guys box and would insult guests brave enough to step up and talk with him. HHN30 and HHN31 there was a photo op set up where guests could stand in a Good Guys box and a silhouette of Chucky with a knife would appear behind them. But HHN32 Chucky will have his own house and it will follow the SYFY television series. We haven’t watched the series but I’m excited to see how the house turns out. The house will be called Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count, from the sounds of it guests must try and survive and not become another casualty of Chukys Kill Count.

On June 15^th HHN announced that The Last of Us was announced and like last year we were introduced to a Scream Squad if you will. We are introduced to Jordan, Drew and Sofia, they are on a video chat together. Jordan is at home playing The Last of Us, Drew is walking outside and Sofia appears to be at school. They are talking about the video mentioned earlier talking about the lore and conspiracy theories of HHN, you can see the announcement video here. Now this version will be based on the video game (which we haven’t played) but from what I have heard from those that have played the game and watched the HBO series that they are very close. We watched the tv series and we loved it and I am can’t wait to see how this translates into a house, the noises that the Clickers make send shivers down my spine and I know that they are going to be terrifying.

On July 13th Stranger Things 4 was announced, sticking with the video chat this one is from Sofia’s point of view. As she is chatting with Jordan and Drew when she hears the chime of a grandfather clock, or as Stranger Things fans know it is the sound when Vecna is about to take his next victim. This house will take guests through season 4 of Stranger Things, can you and your scream squad escape Vecna’s curse? I am excited for this house, season 4 was one of the darkest, scariest and emotional of the seasons. I can’t wait to see which scenes the creative team picked to bring to life! I already have all my outfits picked out, you might say I have a slight obsession with Stranger Things.

On July 28th before the massive announcement we were give the last video from our Scream Squad, Drew is outside running when he comes across a very creepy looking doll. When he picks it up images flash before his eyes, check out the video here. Now I will say I am surprised by this announcement because this movie doesn’t come out until after the event starts. The Exorcist: Believer from Blumhouse, now this movie doesn’t come out until October, Friday the 13th to be exact. This will be like a immersive trailer for the movie. I am not excited for this one, the original Exorcist terrified my as a kid and I still haven’t seen it to this day. I can already say that this will be the scariest house at the event for me.

For the rest of the houses we didn’t get any video but we did get some imagery and descriptions of each one. Lets start with Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins, now if you aren’t super familiar with HHN Lore Dr. Oddfellow is the guy who ran the circus Jack the Clown worked and he was ultimately the one who imprisoned Jack in the Jack ‘n the box. Dr. Oddfellow will serve as this years Icon and he has a hand in all the houses and scarezones this year which is cool to have an interwoven storyline with everything.

Next up my most anticipated house of the event Universal Monsters: Unmasked. They knock it out of the park every year with the Classic Monster houses, they are always so beautifully eerie. We are getting 4 monsters who don’t always get shown a lot of love, guests will be transported to Paris where they will not only explore what is above ground but what is below in the catacombs as well. We will come face to face with The Phantom of the Opera, The Invisible Man, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde!

Now if you have been a fan of the parks and rides then you will be excited for this next house, Dueling Dragons Choose Thy Fate. Dueling Dragons used to be a ride at Islands of Adventures but was closed and replaced with Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure. While attempting to take Merlyn’s spell book, two warlocks are turned into dragons and you the guest is stuck in the middle of these two dueling dragons. The cool things about this house is it seems that there will be two different paths to choose from in the house, which is another callback to the ride where guests could choose between fire or ice as their dragon of choice.

Next we have Yeti Campground Kills, set in the 1950s you and your squad find an old campground that has been taken over by Yeti and you must try and make it to the ranger tower and to safety. This is the 3rd time we have seen yeti at the event so I am interested to see what this installment has in store for us.

The next house is The Darkest Deal Universals take on the Crossroads deal of a Blues player who sold his soul. The story will follow Pinestraw Spruce who sells his soul for fame to the Collector. I am excited for this house I know of the Crossroads myth and I am excited to see Universals take on this story.

The last house is Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings, you and your scream squad stumble into a village of moon-worshippers during the blood moon. During this time the worshippers take it upon themselves to track drown any who do not follow the blood moon, can you make it out before they get you?

Now time for the scarezones, this year they are Dr. Oddfellow’s Collection of Horror, Dark Zodiac, Jungle of Doom: Expedition HorrorVamp ’69: Summer of Blood and Shipyard 32: Horros Unhinged. As I mentioned before Dr. Oddfellow has his hands in everything this year he is the reason for all the creatures guest will encounter in all the scarezones. You can read more about them below. I am excited to see how they are all connected and I am excited to get another variation of the Vamp scarezone. The last one we got was Vamp ’85 and the theming and music was great, I am very much looking forward to this Woodstock type of Vamp scarezone located in the New York area of the park. Dark Zodiac will be located in the Hollywood area of the park and I am very interested in seeing the Zodiacs brought to life. Jungle of Doom will be located in the Central Park area of the park and this is the perfect spot for it, with the overhang of trees and the closeness of the area it’s sure to be one where the scareactors can blend in and scare guests. Shipyard 32 will be located in the San Fransisco area of the park and usually when they do anything with a ship or the water they turn out beautifully so I can’t wait to see what this scarezone holds. Lastly Dr. Oddfellows Collection of Horror will great guest as soon as they come through the gates, in the main drag of the park guests will have to make their way through whatever Dr. Oddfellow has planned for them.

If you want to learn more and go a little deeper into the houses, scarezones and the overall event I recommend to listen to the Discover Universal podcast, they have a 3 part series on the overall reveal of the event where they talk to members of the creative team. And it also appears that they may do what they did last year which was release short episodes that touch on the original houses and scarezones of the event which help layout the story for guest. The first one is already up and it is about Dr. Oddfellow, if you would also like to learn more about Dr. Oddfellow I suggest checking out Christoper Ripley’s Halloween Horror Nights Unofficial: The Story & Guide. These books not only go over HHN from the very beginning but he also talks about the different characters over the years and their backstories as well, you kind find all his books here.

Other things we learned about the event is that the Tribute Store will be moving back to the New York section of the park and will be called Tribute of Terror and be themed to a NYC comic book shop. The Red Coconut Club in City Walk will once again be transformed into the Dead Coconut Club but with a new menu and theming, below are some picture from last years Dead Coconut Club.

Again Cabana Bay Swizzle Stick lounge will be turned into a themed bar feature Lil Boo and the Pumpkin Lord guests 21 and older can try different themed adult beverages. Again this year any Universal Resort guest with their valid room key will be able to experience Chucky’s Twisted Playground. Open Daily from 2pm-10pm at Cabana Bay Resort guests can pose will different photo ops in an immersive experience based on the Chucky tv series. A new thing added this year is the Universal Monsters Gallery of Legends, guests can take part in a photo hunt for 7 different Universal Monsters at 7 different Universal Orlando Resort lobbies. Also the Endless Summer Resort will also have a Spooky Sunset Lounge where guests 21 and older can try themed Halloween drinks. Nightmare Fuel will be back with a show in the old Fear Factor stage, there is a rumor that there will be a Death Eater show in Diagon Alley but nothing has been released about that at this time. We are also still waiting to hear if there will be a lagoon show as well.

There is going to be so much to see and do at this years event and I can’t wait to experience it all! If you haven’t already you can buy your tickets for the event here all ticket packages including multi-night, single night, tours and express passes are on sale. We can’t wait to be back in the fog!

Halloween Horror Nights 31: Never Go Alone.

It’s that time again, Universal Orlando Resorts Halloween Horror Nights is near! I can already smell the fog & hear the people screaming. The event runs from September 2^nd to October 31^st, if you still needs tickets you can get them here. You can also grab your Express Passes, Multi-night tickers, Tours & Scareactor dinning, that’s right it’s back this year!

HHN31 tagline is “Never Go Alone”, now some people are annoyed that they are reusing this tagline. If I’m honest I felt like last year’s tagline was “30 Years 30 Fears”, truly it doesn’t matter but some people like to have something to complain about. Like last year when dropping the houses HHN made teasers trailers. With each teaser we got a movie character, the first we’re introduced to is “The Snacker”. While leaving the movies the Snacker is attacked when the Mummy, Dracula & the Wolfman tear through the movie posters outside the theater. On May 17^th Universals Monsters: Legends Collide was announced, you can watch the trailer here. Guests will be caught in the middle of a fight between the 3 monsters as they fight over the magical amulet that can break their curses.

The second house announcement we got came on June 8^th, and we are introduced to “The Skeptic. While at home watching a scary movie the power goes out and we see The Shape in the hallway. But this isn’t any shape it’s The Shape, Michael Myers the Boogeyman. You can check out the teaser for the house here, now to my surprise it isn’t based off the new Blumhouse movies but the original ’78 version. I was hoping that we might see the 2018 version of the movie at the event but with them going back to where it all started means that we won’t have to walkthrough the terribly awful Halloween Kills movie. If I would have had to hear “Halloween dies tonight” every time I went through a house, I would have lost it. In the years that we have gone we have only experience one other Halloween house and that was at HHN28 when they did Halloween 4the Return of Michael Myers. I will say that was a fun house, not the scariest but it was enjoyable. I feel like this will be comparable to Texas Chainsaw Massacre at last year’s event, was it a super scary house no but it was fun and felt like you had stepped into the movie. You can never go wrong with a classic and I can’t wait to step foot into the Myers house.

The third house announcement came on June 23^rd and is a 2 for one house, gracing the event with its presents again, The Horrors of Blumhouse. This year featuring Freaky and The Black Phone. Following the same format as the others we are introduced to “The Cringe Couple”. While walking through a parking garage a couple is chased by The Butcher from Freaky, they try to get into an elevator but when the doors open The Graber from The Black phone is waiting for them. I am trying not to judge too soon but I find this an odd pairing, I wish they would have let either of these titles stand-alone but regardless I will hold off until we actually get to experience it.

On Friday July 22^nd we got another teaser GIF of a girl in a bathroom taking a selfie (you can see it here) , We would have to wait until July 26^th to get the house announcement. But before we got the house announcement, they dropped multi-night tickets for the event as well as Scareactors Dinning to the website. Now I will say I was very surprised to see Scareactor Dinning come back, mostly because the restaurant that they used to have it at The Monsters Café was closed a couple months back. This year it will be held at Louie’s Italian Restaurant which is located in the New York area of the park. You can find the multi-night tickets as well as the Scareactor Dinning experience here.

If you are not familiar with the Scareactors Dinning Experience, it is an add on ticket, you must have a ticket for that night of HHN as well. Guests will enjoy a themed dinner buffet while Scareactors running around and interacting with guests while they eat. You can take photos with them as well as get a digital download of a photo taken while there. Tickets are $54.99+ tax, we have never done it but I have seen videos and it looks like a good time.

Now to the house, we are introduced to “The Selfie Queen”. We knew this house was coming, a few months back The Weekend tweeted about YouTube pulling one of his videos and he much said that it wasn’t too much for HHN. The Weekend: After Hours Nightmare will be the last house that is shared on both coasts. Even though I am not well versed in The Weekends work from what I have seen and from the teaser they dropped I do feel like this house will be very creepy. If you would like to read about the concept of the house you can do so here. This article from Entertainment Weekly dropped right before the trailer, it almost seems like they had to announce the house because of this article being posted but I’m not mad about it. And if you are like me and not as well versed on The Weekend this YouTube video is a compilation is the storyline of the house.

As mentioned all four of the previous mentioned houses will be at Universal Orlando as well as Universal Hollywood. I look forward to seeing the walkthrough videos because even though both coasts share these houses, they won’t be identical, which is nice because there are some people who will go to both events. Moving forward the houses we talk about will only be at HHN Universal Orlando.

This year the Original Concept houses outnumber the Intellectual Property (IP) houses. On August 16^thHHN dropped another video, this one longer than the four previous videos. It had the four people we previously mentioned and then it introduced the rest of the “Scream Squad”. We see a group of friends attending HHN but they are all slowly separated and run into a character from one of the houses or scarezones, you can check it out here. Let’s take a closer look at the 6 OG houses.

The first one is at the top of my list, Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake. Guests will enter a New England fishing village and come face to face with undead fishermen. This house got the Trick ‘r Treatment, going from a scarezone to a house. At HHN26 Dead Man’s Wharf was a scarezone in the San Francisco area of the park. Snowy or water houses are usually really pretty and you can guarantee that this house will be blasting the A/C, which is a nice break from those hot Florida nights.

Spirit of the Coven is set in a 1920s speakeasy, I am interested to see how this house turns out. In the description they describe the witches as flappers and that is a new take on witches for me. Now this next house already makes my skin crawl and we haven’t even seen anything from it yet. Bugs Eatin Alive”, bugs why did it have to be bugs! The description of the house is a bit confusing to; guests will be “touring a 1950s house of the future”. I don’t really know that means but I doubt I’ll be able to focus on that detail too much as we are walking through it. Universal released a podcast talking with some of the creative team behind HHN and while they were describing this house I was screaming “nope, don’t like that” repeatedly in my car as I listened. You can find the podcast where ever you listen, it’s the Discover Universal Podcast and it is an official podcast from Universal Orlando.

Our next original house is Fiesta De Chupacabras, if you are unfamiliar with the Chupacabra it is a cryptid that drinks the blood of animals, it translates to goat sucker. Depending on where you are located the description varies, according to the HHN description guest are visiting a Latin American village were a fiesta is being held to celebrate the chupacabras. According to the internet in Latin America it is described as a reptilian alien like creature. Can you escape the fiesta before the chupacabras get you?

Hellblock Horrors is our next house, the description of this house makes me think of the scene in Cabin in The Woods where Dana and Marty see all the different monsters in their holding cells. Guests enter a prison holding “savage inmates and monstrous creatures”. Will you get out before they break free of their cells? The last original house is Descendants of Destruction. While traveling through the subway of New York, mutated creatures have taken up residence and they are looking for their next meal and it may just be you and your scream squad if you’re not careful.

This is a strong year for originals and I am very excited for them! Many of my favorite houses have been the originals; Slaughter Sinema, Carnival Graveyard, Dead Waters, Wicked Growth just to name a few. The creative team has a lot more free range when it comes to the originals so I can’t wait to see what they’ve come up with.

On to the scarezones, again these are all original concepts. Sometimes the scarezones are based on Ips but not this year. Going counterclockwise around the park because I want to save the best for last in my opinion (as of right now, this might change after the event). Up first to the right if the Today Show Café in the Hollywood Blvd section we have Graveyard Deadly Unrest. Tread lightly as you make your way through Nettlewood Cemetery, spirits of those laid to rest awaken on All Hallows Eve. Can you make it out or will you be trapped for all eternity?

Guests will then come upon Scarecrow: Cursed Soil, this scarezone is a continuation from a house that was at HHN21 Scarecrow the Reaping. Located in the Central Park area of the park, make your way through an abandoned farm where scarecrows have come to life and looking to harvest any who they come across. I am excited to see this scarezone in person, usually this is one of the pretty areas when it comes to scarezone. Continuing around the park to the San Francisco area, we have Conjure the Dark. A sorceress is conjuring creatures from the dark dimension to feed on unlucky guests.

In the New York area Sweet Revenge, arriving at The Bicentennial Hometown Fall Halloween Festival Parade, sponsored by the candy company Major Sweets. Think of this as a horror Willy Wonka, candy from Major Sweets has started to turn the children of the town into killers. Listening to the Discover Universal Podcast the creative team says that they reached out to the company that makes the Universal Mardi Gras floats, throughout the scarezone will be parade floats from the Halloween Festival Parade.

The final scarezone is located in the Plaza od the Stars at the front of the park and its Horrors of Halloween. Like Scarecrow: Cursed Soil this scarezone is also based off of a house, Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin. The Pumpkin Lord has returned! This character from last year was amazing, he is Halloween. The Pumpkin Lord is summoning terrifying creatures to terrorize unsuspecting guests. The carved pumpkin from the façade of last year’s house are back along with fan favorite Lil Boo! Lil Boo became an unofficial icon last year and Universal heard the people and how much they loved this little pumpkin that they brought him back and put him on some the merch for the event.

This brings us to the shows, the Nightmare Fuel team is back with a new show. Located in the old Fear Factor stage, this show is full of pyro, dancing and aerial work. We enjoyed last years show it was different than anything we had previously seen. It is also a nice break from all the walking you will be doing around the event. The second show is the lagoon show. This year it’s Ghoulish! A Halloween Tale. The description says it’s a ghost tale. Using fog, fountains and laser effects the show is projected onto a water screen over the Universal Lagoon. Usually, the show is about 10-15 minutes long, you will have to stand compared to the other show but I still say check it out. We’ve enjoyed the past shows the past 2 years and look forward to checking this one out. It seems like this year it will be more of a story whereas the Marathon of Mayhem shows mostly showed scenes from the IPs that were at the event that year.

The last two things to mention are the Cabana Bay themed bar and the merch. Like last year when Cabana Bay turned the Swizzle Lounge into the Icons bar and had the Jack’d Up Experience that are once again going to offer a spooky good time. This year they are offering Universal Monsters Gallery of Legends. There will be a Universal Monsters themed photo gallery experience, Universal Monsters Gallery of Legends. Now this part is exclusive to Universal Orlando Hotel guests (you will have to show a Universal Resort hotel key). But anyone can check out the Swizzle Lounge, last year they had themed decorations and specialty cocktail drinks. This will be open daily from 5pm-12am. I say if you have a chance and can check it out, I highly recommend it, we had a nice time to hanging out at the bar and trying the different drinks. If you are staying at one of the Universal Orlando Resorts, head up stairs and next to the Galaxy Bowling there is an immersive photo ops set up. This will be open daily from 2pm-10pm but again you must be staying at one of the resorts and be able to show a room key. The merch this year is great! It has a vintage Halloween feel. If you don’t want to wait to get your merch you can find some of it on the Universal website. You might have to keep checking because it does sell out, but don’t fret you can contact customer services and if you provide the skew number and size, they can ship it to you if it is in the park. If you are in the parks, you kind find it at the 5 and Dime at Universal and The All Hallows Eve Boutique in Islands of Adventure. The HHN Tribute store should be opening up any day now and there will a good selection there as well.

All and all I’m very excited for the event, I love the traditional Halloween feel. I especially love the original concepts! Don’t get me wrong I like the IPs but I can’t wait to see what the creative team has cooked up this year. We look forward to this event each year and we’re so close I can practically smell the fog. Keep an eye on our social media channels, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok.

Credit for all the pictures used for the Houses and Scarezone goes to Universal Orlando Resort. Cover photo by me.

HHN30 : 30 Years 30 Fears

We’re back from our jam packed vacation! This year treated ourselves to the Hard Rock Hotel and 6 nights of HHN, 4 with Express Pass and 2 without. We drove down on a Saturday and arrived at the hotel around 1:30pm. Since we had been on the road since 6am we decided that we would save our BOGO HHN ticket and we decided to go and check out the Icon Bar at Cabana Bay. When we arrived at the bar it was a bit packed but as we were ordering two spot opened up at the bar and we were able to snag them. We tried the Black Magic (360 vanilla vodka, grand mariner, fanta orange & edible black glitter), The Skeleton Key (marker’s mark whiskey, st. germain elderflower liquor, agave nectar, fresh lemon juice, q ginger beer & angostura aromatic bitters), The Grinder (deep eddy ruby red vodka, barrows intense ginger liquor, grapefruit juice, agave nectar, lime & edible black glitter) and The Jack (jack daniels whiskey & coke with lime). They weren’t bad, they were interesting flavors. The bartenders were great, funny & entertaining. We decided to skip the Jack’d Up Experience, after watching videos on it we realized it was mainly photo ops. The decorations were cool, they had a banner with the Icons it. They also had costumes and props from some of the Icons with little cards with information about the Icon. If you would like to check out the menu you can do so here.

Our first night we had express & we made it through 5 of the houses before calling it a night. Now I know what you’re thinking “how did you only make it through 5 houses with express?”. We I’ll tell you, as we were in line for Beetlejuice (our 4th house of the night) it began to down pour. Water was up to our ankles in some parts of the par. When we looked at the radar it was going to continue raining for the next 2 hours, so we decided to call it a night. As we made our way to the front of the park to leave we passed a house entrance & decided to go through it to get out of the rain for a quick moment. It sucked to call it an early night but we knew our feet would be wrecked if we stayed, I HATE WET SHOES & SOCKS!!

On Wednesday we started our morning with a 3 house Unmasking Tour. The 3 houses was Universal Monster: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives, Revenge of The Tooth Fairy & Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth, we also got to see the facades for Texas Chainsaw Massacre & HHN Icons. It was crazy to see that two houses share one soundstage but you can’t hear the other house because of the soundproof curtains. Well there was one acceptation, the curtains separated between Tooth Fairy and HHN Icons, so you could hear the music from Icons along with the narration of Tooth Fairy when you first entered Tooth Fairy. This was the first year we had done an Unmasking Tour, it’s really cool getting to see the houses with the lights one because there are so many tiny details you don’t see when you’re going through the house during the event. One of my favorite details was in the Bride house, in one of the rooms they had a skeleton hand from The Creature (this can be seen in the bottom left picture above), Draculas ring and the Wolfman’s cane. You also learn more of the stories of the house. Bride & Tooth Fairy are pretty understandable but Legendary Truth not so much. Now if you’re an HHN “super” fan & know about the Collective & where there the year Legendary Truth was a big part of the event you understood this house. As someone who had only read about the house & group I didn’t understand the story when we went through before our tour. It was definitely a house built for the fans of the event who have been coming for awhile. Below are some more photos from our tour.

This year is like a love letter to the fans, a lot of past elements were brought back & it was cool to experience things from before we started going. Wednesday was our first full night at the event, it rained for a bit but we were able to get a table at Finnegan’s to wait it out. We were able to hit all 10 houses since we had express passes again. All the houses were really good, I was disappointed with Beetlejuice because we never got a good run through of the house. The best thing about the house was our first night I wore a Beetlejuice themed outfit and the scareactor at the entrance of the house commented on my outfit. We did get caught in a cast change for Texas Chainsaw Massacre we were trapped between two Leatherfaces. Which was pretty funny because the group behind us were scared so the scareactors just kept starring out them and they kept freaking out.

The scarezones this year were alright, there felt more like photo ops & were more congested than usual. Two of the zones; Seek & Destroy & Lights, Camera, Hacktion seemed unnecessarily loud. There is nothing wrong with lots of noise in the zones but these two almost made it less enjoyable with the amount of sound effects that were being pumped in. We did both of the shows; Marathon of Mayhem : Carnage Factory & Halloween Nightmare Fuel. This years Marathon of Mayhem wasn’t as good as HHN29, the stage show Halloween Nightmare Fuel was fun. The magic tricks & fire dancing was really cool. It was also a nice touch that Jack was walking around the event, you never knew where he was going to show up. We saw him while we were in line for houses and outside the Tribute Store.

I do wish we had tried more food & treats (totally forgot to get any at the Tribute Store) but again this year there weren’t a lot of options that jumped out at us. Most of it seemed too heavy & that is not food you want to eat in muggy FL. We did try the Pumpkin Guts (vegan; zucchini & squash ring with toasted hazelnuts & pumpkin seeds, the Field of Screams Gyoza (spicy ground turkey & butternut squash filled dumplings) as well as the Bag O’ Donuts with powdered sugar. The Pumpkin Guts didn’t really have any flavor, they also got cold pretty fast, the Field of Screams Gyoza was really good though. The first time we had the gyoza they had been sitting under the heating lamp for a bit and weren’t the best but the second time we tried them they were fresh and tasted much better. They filled you up without making you feel heavy and gross. The Bag O’ Donuts were alright, you got 6 mini donuts with your choice of powdered or cinnamon sugar. I didn’t think they were worth the price, they were really light and fluffy which was nice but they were just bland. I really hope that they bring back the mini pumpkin donuts they had at HHN28 they were AMAZING! We tried 3 of the cocktails; The Bog Slime (gin, lime juice & house made matcha-cardamon syrup), Poison Tea Party (iced tea & lemonade rum punch with huckleberry & allspice) & the Ghoul Juice (mango rum with cherry lime & allspice). Of the 3 the Bog Slime had the best flavor but the only downside to it was the matcha-cardamon residue that formed at the bottom. Poison Tea Party was the next best while the Ghoul Juice was the least, it was just too sweet.

Over all it was a great event, the vinyl & masks on the characters didn’t bother me or take away from the experience. After 2 years I was just happy to be back at the event and in the fog. And there is still a month left of the event so you have time to check out the event. You can find all the information & tickets here. Make sure you’re following us in Instagram @themeparkcorner & on Twitter @CornerTheme & be on the look out for our next blog that covers our time at Disney.

HHN is Back Baby!

We’re 14 days away from Opening Scaremonies which means it’s almost SHOWTIME (said in Beetlejuice voice). It’s been a crazy couple year, with last year’s event being cancelled it seems like Universal and the Creative Team are going all out. There are themed booths popping up everywhere in the park. Past icons are coming back, there will be a themed Icon bar and we have not one but TWO stores!!

Now I know none of this information will be new and I know it’s a tad late to be putting this out but oh well. As you know Dan and I work in the Film Industry so we’re pretty busy but this year we’re going to attempt to do some videos for our trip. Which I am very excited for, we usually are only there for a few days but this year we’re taking an entire week and we’re doing Universal and Disney. You can hear all about it here, but I’ll also touch on it in this blog. I’m going to cover the event, some of the merch we’ve seen and also talk about our plans and out house rankings before we experience them. Without further ado let’s get to the fun stuff.

Houses

No surprise we’re getting 10 houses again this year (pretty sure that will be consistent unless they throw in a surprise house one year) but this year the Original Concept (OG) houses outnumber the Intellectual Property (IP) houses, 6 to 4. The first house announcement we got came all the way back on March 5^th and it was Beetlejuice. Fans have been asking for this house for a while and they’re prayers have finally been answered. Now some lucky guests did get to experience this house last year. It was one of 3 houses that Universal opened up to daytime guests, you can see it for yourself here. Last year the 3 house that were opened up did have plexiglass throughout the to keep the scareactors and the guests safe, so far we haven’t heard if the plexiglass will be back this year but as or right now it seems like it won’t. If you’re a fan of Beetlejuice I think you’ll really enjoy this house. If it’s anything like Ghostbusters last year it will be an entertaining house and feel like you stepped right into the movie.

Artwork for the House from HalloweenHorrorNights.com

The next house announcement we got arrived on July 8^th and was Netflix Haunting of Hill House. It’s no surprise that we are getting another Netflix property this year, at HHN28 they had Stranger Things season 1, HHN29 we got Stranger Things seasons 2 & 3. With everything being delayed with season 4 of Stranger Things you knew they wouldn’t be making a return at this years event. But there is no shortage of spooky things on Netflix and Haunting of Hill House fits perfectly with the event. I am very interested to see how they do some of the scares in this house, we know that the Tall Man, Bent Neck Lady and the Ghost in the basement will all be making an appearance. The latter of the two aren’t that hard to pull off but if you’ve seen the show or if you haven’t the Tall Man floats instead of walking. I am very interested in seeing how they pull that off. I have seen some pictures of the façade as well as some of the rooms in the house and it looks hauntingly beautiful.

The third announcement from Halloween Horror Nights came on July 18^th was a double feature; Universal Monsters The Bride of Frankenstein Lives and 1974 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (TCM). I am very excited for the Bride house, HHN29 did Universal Classic Monsters house and it was amazing! So I expect this one to be on that same level. The story is that the Bride is trying to bring her love back to life and she is using blood from Dracula’s wives to make it happen. Like Beetlejuice this house was also opened to daytime guests last year and you can watch a walkthrough of it here.

Now I will be honest with you I am not looking forward to TCM house one bit, I can deal with chainsaws in the streets of the event but in the houses is another story. I will most likely go through this house the way I went through House of 1000 Corpses the first time, with my eyes closed! I know I know that is no way to experience the house but, that is the only way I (Eden) will be able to make it through lol. I have only seen one of the remakes of TCM and it is not my favorite but because I want to be able to make it through all 10 houses I am hoping I can work up the courage to get through this one.

After these four house announcements things were pretty quiet after that, they had released Single Night Tickets and the R.I.P & Unmasking Tours. But it wasn’t until August 5^th that they dropped all the Rush of Fear Passes, they are multi-night tickets for the event, all of which you can purchase here. Also on August 5^th they announced HHN Icons Captured house. This being the 30^th year they are bringing back a lot of fan favorites, and the biggest way is with Icons. This house is pretty much a love letter if you will to the HHN Icons, guests will get to come face to face with these demented, twisted fiends. In ready the description of the house, which can be found here (insert link to website) one Icon will reign supreme at the end of the house and it will change, so you will defiantly want to make sure that you do multiple walkthroughs of this house.

And then the following week on August 12^th HHN dropped one massive announcement on us…EVERYTHING! The remaining houses and scarezones were all dropped at one time! You and check out the announcement video here. With 3 weeks till the event, it was one hell of a way to get everything out there. The remaining 5 houses were; Welcome to SCarey: Horror in the Heartland, Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin, Puppet Theatre: Captive Audience, Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth & Revenge of the Tooth Fairy.

I am very much looking forward to experiencing Welcome to SCarey: Horror in the Heartland. Throughout the events history many of the scarezones and houses have been set in Carey, Ohio. Which is a real place, one of the event designers of HHN is actually from Carey. Houses such as Slaughter Sinema, The Hive, Leave it to Cleaver & scarezones like Twisted Tradition have all been set in the Town of Carey. This house will be a way if bringing them all together I believe and can’t wait to see what they do! If you would like to learn more about Carey you can read up on it here or you can also check out this video from Expedition Theme Park.

Speaking of Carey, our next house I believe will be is supposed to take place in Carey, OH but I’m not 100% sure, it just feels that way to me. According to the HHN website an evil rot has infested the land and this brings the Pumpkin Lord back. His minions bring sacrifices to help the Pumpkin Lord rise. This house reminds me of the scarezone from HHN28 called Twisted Tradition. It was full of rotting pumpkins and pumpkin creatures roaming the streets. (insert pictures from the scarezone). Dan brought a good point for this house, it might not be full of jump scares like the others, instead the scareactors will be more camouflaged into the sets. Like they were in the Seeds of Extinction house, the house was full of over grown plants and the scareactors would be right next to you but you had no clue because they blended in with the foliage.

Now people had been saying for a while that this next house was confirmed, when it actually hadn’t yet (okay technically it had but not officially yet for this season), but last year Peacock release a video from inside the house. Senior Director of Creative Development, Michael Aiello took a news anchor around and showed them the house, without any scareactors in it, you can check it out here. This house is set in an abandoned theatre where a puppeteer and ballet troupe have been trapped. Will you make it out alive or will you become part of the captive audience stuck there?

Now this next house neither myself or Dan are familiar with; Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth.On the HHN website they don’t have much on this house, so I had to do some sleuthing but Legendary Truth is a paranormal investigative team that was formed by Boris Shuster to investigate the disappearance of patience of Dr. Mary Agana aka Bloody Mary and 2008 event. You can read about them in any of Christopher Ripley’s HHN guides or this website here. Again, this is just another way for HHN to pay homage to past events and also to fans of the event who have been going for a while.

The last house Revenge of the Tooth Fairy was the third house that was opened to daytime guests last year, you can see the walkthrough of it here. Now from what I’ve heard on from people who got to experience the house it was just alright. One of the issues was that you could tell where the scareactor was because of the plexiglass that was placed in the house. The story of this house is a young boy refuses to give his tooth to the tooth fairy so he comes and pretty much kills the boy’s family. This house right now is on closer to the bottom of my list. I won’t complete rule it out until we go through it but it just seems kind of meh to me.

Scarezones

Time for the Scarezones! There will be 5 scarezones again this year and 3 out of the 5 are paying homage to past events. When guests enter the gates of the park, they will be greeted by the 30 Years 30 Fears scarezone. According to the website past creatures will once again be roaming the streets to scare guests. The imagery is a little confusing because at first, I thought this was going to be a zone with the past icons in it but after reading the description I realized that wasn’t so. But I still think every so often we may just catch a glimpse of an Icon, keep your eyes peeled!

The next zone guests will encounter in the New York streets will be Seek & Destroy, an alien cyborg regime has taken over and are using people as fuel. All under the watchful eye of the Controller. Not too sure what to make of this scarezone but again I won’t completely rule it out until we experience it. As guests enter the San Francisco area of the park they will come upon the CryptTV scarezone. There are little stages set up throughout the area for different creatures from this YouTube Channel, if you want to know what to expect you can check out the HHN Prep Playlist that they put together on their YouTube Channel. We have watched these and they are very creepy, they range in length but are all still considered shorts.

As guests enter the Central Park area of the park, they will come to Gorewood Forest, this zone is a call back to a past Icon of the event, the Terra Queen. The year she appeared she vowed to return in 15 years. One year late but whose counting! The Terra Queen and other creature from Terra Cruentus will be roaming the street looking for more sacrifices. If you are lucky enough to make it out of the Gorewood forest you will land yourself in; Lights, Camera, Hacktion: Eddie’s Revenge. I feel fans of the event are very excited for this scarezone. Some backstory in case you don’t know, Eddie was supposed to be the Icon of the event for HHN XI but after the attacks on the World Trade Center they pulled Eddie from the event and brough back Jack. Eddie has appeared in houses at the event but this year they are giving Eddie his due and giving him his own scarezone. I am probably most excited for this scarezone, we have seen pictures and there are mini stages set up throughout the area and they are either from past houses or past scarezones. Again, they are playing off the 30 Years 30 Fears theme and bringing back some of fans favorite things of past events.

Shows

Now some things came out during quarantine and Universal rightfully cut ties with the dance troupe Academy of Villains. But we are still getting 2 shows this year; they have made a new lagoon show, Marathon of Mayhem: Carnage Factory. HHN29 they premiered the first lagoon show for the event and it was cool. They projected clips on water, there were lasers and music that went along with the houses of the event that year. I am excited to see how they change it up and it ties in with the event. The second show will take place at the Fear Factory stage and is called Halloween Nightmare Fuel. Not much is known about it but according to the website guests will experience fire, pyro and ariel performers. Sounds like it will be entertaining, we will defiantly check it out at least once.

They haven’t released food and drinks yet, there are plenty of themed booths set up though. Which I am pretty excited about there seem to be more booths this year and they are themed to match the houses which I have never seen them do before. There have been some merch previews with each of the house announcements but there is still more to come but I think we won’t see it until the event opens. The façade of the Tribute Store is up and I have seen online that Team Members will get a sneak peak of it Thursday, August 26^th. But if you’re at the parks you can make your way over to the Lost Continent in Islands of Adventure and shop some of the merch at the All Hallows Eve Store that they opened up, it’s pretty much a mini–Tribute Store. They don’t have all the merch but they have some and they are also selling coffee and art from local artists which is really cool. You can see a walkthrough of the store here from Tim Tracker.

Now that we have covered everything that is coming to the event let’s talk about out trip! Like I said this is the first year we’re going for a full week, will arrive on the 18^th and be there until the 26^th. I am very excited we will both have wrapped on our current shows the day before we head out. This is also the first year that we’re going to do an Unmasking the Horror Tour, which for those who don’t know is a daytime/lights on tour of the houses. You can choose either a 3-house tour or a 6-house tour, you don’t get to pick which houses but that doesn’t really matter. I think it’s awesome that they do these because it gives guests the opportunity to see the amazing amount of work that goes into making these houses. We will also be sprinkling in some days at Disney as well as checking out their Halloween After Hours Event Boo Bash. Like I said we’re going to try our hand at making vlogs of this trip but also take the time to really enjoy out time there.

Let’s do our house rankings for before!

House Rankings (before)

Dan’s House Rankings:

Puppet Theatre
Welcome to SCarey
Beetlejuice
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
HHN Icons
Haunting of Hill House
Wicked Growth
Bride of Frankenstein
Revenge of the Tooth Fairy
Case Files Unearthed

Eden’s House Rankings:

Welcome to SCarey: Horror in the Heartland
The Bride of Frankenstein Lives
Beetlejuice
Haunting of Hill House
The Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin
HHN Icons Captured
Puppet Theatre: Captive Audience
Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth
Revenge of The Tooth Fairy
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Don’t forget to check back for a breakdown of how are trip went and how we rank the houses after experiencing the. So crazy that the event is just around the corner, I can almost smell the fog!

Fog rolling in as we waited to be released from our Stay & Scream holding area.

Mini Backpack Review

Picture of my mini backpack, incase you forgot or didn’t see my first post about it

Alright it is time to review my mini Stranger Things backpack that I bought to take to HHN. This little bag was great (with one exception that I will get to), it was light no matter what I had in it, granted we don’t usually take a lot to the parks when we go anyway. I liked that it was more structured so I was able to take it off and have it unzipped for the security checkpoints that didn’t have x-ray machines. Now I think I have mentioned this before, but I am terrible with measurements so even though it fit in the small lockers at Universal it was a bit of a tight squeeze. I forgot that the small lockers are slender and more rectangular shaped so I would have to squish it a little to get it to fit in there. In the bigger lockers that you pay $2 for it could easily stand up but in the free ones it would have to lay down and couldn’t have anything to ridged in it. Squishing it was fine except for the days that I brought my camera and we had our souvenir cups for HHN. The bag with my camera in it would fit I would just be very gentle putting it in the locker and then we would just lay the cups down in front of the bag.

There was one time that I did end up paying $2 when we ATTEMPTED to ride Hagrid’s Magical Adventure, which was a DISASTER! Real quick let me fill you in on what happened. Let it be noted that you can not use Express Passes on this ride (at the time being, maybe in the future). We decided that we would just do Single Rider so that we could at least experience the ride. I put the bag in the locker and we go up to the Team Member and asked her about Single Rider line. She tells us that she can’t tell us if Single Rider is opened or not that we would have to wait in the normal line until we got to were the Single Rider entrance was and hope for the best. Now she didn’t really say “hope for the best” but she might as well had. We enter the cue (we know how long this cue is from the many times we rode Dragon Challenge when we lived there) and we barely walk up the line and we hit the line that is a 2 hour wait. We looked at each other and said screw it and turn back around cause we would have to stand in line for probably 2 hours before we got to the Single Rider entrance. And then there was a chance that the Single Rider line wouldn’t be opened and we would just be stuck in the normal line. This ride has been open since June 13th, I find it mind boggling that they can’t tell you if the Single Rider line is open or not. I know that they can’t tell you how long you will wait in the Single Rider line no big deal, but you should at least know if it is opened or not. Anyways I pretty much wasted $2 on a locker that I used for maybe 3 minutes but it is what it is.

The one-day or night I should say that we had the problem was our last night at HHN, we had brought our souvenir cups and I brought the camera to try and get some more pictures. I must say though I am very disappointed in the amount of pictures I got this year because I somehow forgot how to do anything with my camera. I struggled with changing the settings so it was a bust and I should have just left it in the hotel room. Anywho, the camera fit great in the bigger pouch but I didn’t like to put the cups in with it just incase there was some left over liquid from our drinks that could spill onto the camera. Which meant the cups had to be shoved into the tiny side pockets of the bag. Now they did fit but they were a smidge too big for those and with the camera in the bag it made it a hard to get them to fit into those pockets. As we were leaving the Marathon of Mayhem show I went to put my camera back into my bag and I noticed it was unzipped. So I stop and started to go through the bag to make sure nothing had fallen out and I noticed that the zipper had broken. I almost cried, I was so upset I love that little backpack. Thankfully that pocket has two zippers and the other one still works to open and close it, but it was still upsetting. I think I had just put too much in it, mostly putting the cups into the side pockets truth be told. The next time we go we will either take it and pay to use a locker all day or take a bigger bag (to make sure it won’t break) and still get the larger all day use lockers. But since we wouldn’t have the cups I think that the free lockers would work since I can squeeze it in there but I really would like to keep this bag around for good while and don’t want to ruin it.

I did notice though that those mini backpacks are the “hot item” to take to amusement parks now, we saw them EVERYWHERE! I say if you find one you really like and aren’t going to be putting too much in them and don’t mind squishing them onto the free lockers or paying for an all day locker then buy it and use it. They aren’t too heavy or bulky and you can fit a good amount (of smaller items) in them. Should also be noted though that the $2 lockers are good for 6 hours; or at least that is what it said when I used it the one time. If you were going to be in the vicinity of that locker with rides or even eating then I would say just use the $2 locker. But it in the long run it might just save you money to pay for an all day locker because $2 can add up if you are using those lockers a lot. If you are going to buying things through out the day then the all day locker makes more sense so you don’t have to keep lugging your souvenirs from locker to locker.

Halloween Horror Nights 29

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 6^th and run through November 2^nd 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.

The first announcement we got for the event came back on March 27^thand 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 30^thyear 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 13^thfor 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!

Our third announcement came on April 29^thwe 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.

On May 5^thwe 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!

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 4^th 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:

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.

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!

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!

HHN 28: Totally Tubular

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.

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.

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

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

HHN 27 : The Coming of The Soul Collectors.

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.

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.

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!!

Halloween Horror Nights

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 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.

Book Link

https://www.amazon.com/Christopher-Ripley/e/B0143KOIOG?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1560395480&sr=8-1

Glossary

*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.