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handfulofrubies82
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« on: October 19, 2010, 10:16:26 AM » |
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I just got back from Florida for a week and while I was there, radiant_red and I visited HHN. I'll just preface this and say I have been wanting to go to Universal at Halloween for years. Everything I've seen, as far as commercials, and reviews made it look awesome. - However, it was not awesome!
I have to say we visited HHN the last night of our vacation, and if we had visited earlier in the week, I may have felt like pushing through, but I didn't.
We stayed at Disney, and took a taxi. If you do the same, you should realize its going to cost you.
We arrived around 6:30pm and probably got into the HHN part around 7:00pm. The first scare zone we went through was Day of the Dead area. I love the imagery and I genuinely loved this scare zone. There was still daylight, and though I didn't get scared, I was wide eyed looking and taking everything in and trying to snap pictures.
After we were inside, the first house said it was a 20 minute wait, OK. I don't know who made the lines, but they stretch on FOREVER. We moved slowly. When we did go in the houses, there were no groups, just a steady line. I was so disappointed. You saw everything coming. The actors didn't "scare" at all, and it looked to me as if they weren't even trying. Of course, we got behind a family with 8 yr olds who thought it was terrifying and they screamed so much at nothing it was annoying. The sets on the other hand were great. Its Universal, and they have everything from from scenes, and props, and effects at their disposal. For it to fail at being scary is just disappointing.
After the first house, I was already disgusted. But we went on and it was same on and on, but the lines and waits got longer. By the 2nd house it was a 60 minute wait. One thing that really bothered me throughout the park was the sale of alcohol. I realize that they're catering to adults, but the push was overwhelming. They had at least two vendors for each line, plus a nurse selling "blood" shots. I kid you not, her tag-line was, "Buy a shot, it makes the haunted houses better." That whole idea made me mad. There are plenty of restaurants and clubs at Universal. You have to walk through City Walk just to get to the park. But to have to push alcohol so hard in the lines was not okay, and I heard several other people mention the same thing while waiting. Unfortunately, in one of our 60 minute lines we got behind a large group of drunks that could barely even stand up. The guys were falling down into the bushes and stumbling around. We eventually passed them, but no one should have to deal with that waiting in line. I can only imagine what security has to go through with as many stupid people in the lines.
There was a plague/catacombs house that was decent. Their costumes were pretty cool, and we went through a crypt area that was neat. It reminded me of Hacker Houses crypt, except it was noisy. However they had their actors laying sideways in the wall niches and grab out towards you. At least I could see that they were attempting to scare us. However, at each turn in the houses, there were "guides", bored people with flashlights whose job it was to tell you to keep moving. They looked utterly miserable, and they were very distracting at each scene.
After two houses, we tried moving further into the park to get away from the crowds, but we didn't really succeed. There was a cool scare zone that featured blue fog lights hanging high in the trees. All along the paths they had jack-o-lanterns, and I mean lots of them. They were stacked together, in yards, hanging from trees, and on light posts. You name it and they put a jack-o-lantern there. We walked through that area at least a couple of times.
The best house we went into was the main house. It featured all the past props. If I could have toured any of the houses in the day time, I would have chosen this one. HHN has been going on for 20 years, and as you walk through the beginning, its like a warehouse, and they have all their props on shelves and there are a few scares mixed in. I got startled once or twice.
I think we went through 4-5 of 8 houses. I was so mad at one point that I just wanted to leave in the beginning because I was so let down. I just expected the houses to be scary, at all scary, and they weren't. And it wasn't for the fact that there wasn't potential. Its because they let in too many people. They needed to have cut people off or limited ticket sales. Universal is a huge park and it was packed and as the night went on (until 2am) it got more crowded.
The best scare zone we went through was Zombiegras. The whole area was themed around Mardi Gras and zombies. There was a zombie house nearby but we didn't go with the 60-75 minute wait. I discovered that they put their best, and most interactive actors in the scare zones. The zombies were really into it and had great music to dance and move to. There were tons of people walking through and at the entrances, they were pumping fog so you never saw them coming. We stayed in this area and watched for about 45 minutes.
I don't know that I could recommend it to anyone. There were several people in line around us that seemed to love it and were really scared and had been coming for years. But, I think they were all local people and that makes a difference. Florida residents get in for about $40-50, where we paid A LOT more. I think if any of these people had been to a decent haunt they wouldn't come back. There is just no comparison in the "scare" to our featured haunts. And, I couldn't believe that there were people there that paid more than we did. There were several RIPS that paid $175 to go through. That blows my mind.
I think we stayed until 11 something. It was long enough.
I looked back at the ticketing page today and they do have behind the scenes tours with the lights on, and that might be the way to go. You probably won't be scared, but at least you would get to see at least three houses and the awesome props and sets they have.
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