Halloween Horror Nights 20 - Opening Weekend MEGA THREAD!

[gearbm95I Guess Donkeys Are Okay]

Quick question. So I'm thinking about making the trip down to USF for HHN this year and was wondering if the experience I had last year was an anomaly or standard practice. I thought the houses were all very well done however, there were almost zero scares as the scares were all ruined by the constant stream of people that were allowed into the houses at once. I understand with the amount of people in attendance it may be counter-productive to space out the groups in the houses however, I felt like this really dampened my experience. Is it always like this? I think I would have had a much more enjoyable time waiting a little longer in line but being able to actually receive a few scares in the houses.

[live2tell75Team Alcide!]

^ This is pretty standard. When it is busy (which is about 95% of the time), the houses are always a steady conga line flow. This is how they try to keep the line moving. I agree with you I would much rather wait a minute to let small groups go in. I actually will slow down to give some space between the people in front of me and myself, so I won't see every scare in ahead of me. This usually helps a lot.

[ernierockerWhy do I still have a donkey title???]

Thanks for all the reports and pictures!

Sounds like they didn't use the majority of the parade house this year like it was rumored. I figured the reason they incorporated the Mardi Gras floats into a scarezone was so they could use the whole building. Or perhaps the warehouse rooms at the beginning and end take up a lot of the space?

[BBparks57Did the donkey fairy give me this title?]

I was glad to see the one float out though, was a nice touch.

Last night my buddy and I got a free night stay at the Portofino which was pretty awesome. We went to CityWalk to grab a few drinks, and I noticed HRRR running with no lights on. Later, as we kept walking, we noticed the lift hill lights were on, and they were still testing...but a few moments after a car cleared the lift, the lights shut off again. I thought it was strange, possible they are actually opening it?

[jedimaster1227Open Up Happiness]

So after much delay, here are the photos from my return visit this past Saturday. I'll likely be going back on Thursday as well, so expect some more photos down the road from that visit.

[Guy T. KoeppNow with Extra Retarded Flavor]

HAWT!

[GambitMacaroni and Donkey]

Adam- the face you make in every picture makes it look like it's the happiest moment of your life. Lol.

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing

[Erik JohnsonFormer captain of the Arrow bus.]

Yeah there really seemed be an abundance of fog and chainsaws this year.

[disneyfan1313I love donkeys more than me.]

Finally have some time to give this years event a review! Some background to give my review some perspective... I've attended almost every HHN since the first one and almost always go on the first weekend. I realize the event generally improves after the first weekend but it gives you a good idea of the original intent of the event.

Overall I would place this year somewhere in the middle of previous years. I think I would have been a bit more impressed if it wasn't marketed as a huge anniversary year. I love the fact that they continue to be more innovative with the houses each year and try new and improved technologies and scares but the outside scare zones seemed to me to be the weakest they have been in MANY years. As others have said, the fog was SERIOUSLY out of control.... I have never seen them use this many fog machines.

Even with the downsides to this years event - it really is still the best halloween event in the country. I'm going to continue to be more critical than I would with other events because I know what they have done in the past. My thoughts on the individual houses and scare zones are below - ordered from favorite to least.

Spoilers Below...

Houses -
- Legendary Truth - Wyandot Estate: This is not only my favorite house of this year, but one of my favorites of all time. The use of never before seen effects and a fun storyline make it an absolute winner. Make sure you look to your feet at the beginning of the house and go multiple times to catch all the hidden things.
- Horror Nights : The Hallow'd Past - This is the "best of" house. I am VERY glad they didn't just make it about the icons but had some really cool scenes from lesser known by favorite houses like "Ship of Screams". The warehouse scenes in the beginning and end are amazing and really makes you want to go through again and again.
- Catacombs: Black Death Rising - This had some of the only real "scares" for me at this years event. I love the museum theming and the freaky masks just creeped me out.
- Hades - I think I would have rated this higher if I didn't go through during a cast change. Seemed a bit cheesy at first but the medusas gave some awesome scares and the theming is top notch.
- Zombiegeddon - This years "funny" house. I love the tie in with the scare zone outside and the fact they tried to make a storyline with the Zombie Awareness Program. Fun theming outside with zombie traps as you walk in the building.
- The Orfanage - I had such high hopes for this house with the promise of Cindy's appearance and REAL FIRE! The house itself is OK with some very creepy moments and good scares but is a bit crippled by being in the hot and tight jaws queue. The fire effect is exceedingly lame.. no idea why it has been hyped so much.
- Psychoscareapy - This one just made me mad. The other psychoscarapy houses in the past have been AWESOME. Dark, funny and creepy. This one was just.. meh. One cool jail scene effect and the rest was a little boring.
- Havoc : Dogs of War - Wha? This was bad.. really bad. Basically just "soldiers" shooting and screaming. VERY loud with almost no scares.. almost everyone who was walking out was saying how lame it was. I hope they tweak it a bit because in its current state its a little embarrassing.

Scare Zones -
Zombie Gras - This one was just FUN. Really no scares but great theming, fun music, great costumes and great makeup. I love the fact that it ties into the house that it is right outside.
HHN 20 Years of Fear - Well put together with lots of random characters that will jar memories. Heavy on the props to give lots of good scares but all characters were very open for photos.
Fear Revealed - Not a real scare zone...but the big XX logo wit the old icons and fear himself. Really well done little area with backdrops for all of the icons. You can tell there was a lot of care put into this.
Esqueleto Muerte - Once again..no real scares but fun costumes and a good idea to use "Day of the Dead". The Shrek area really is a horrible place for a scare zone.
Saws N Steam - So much promise! Cool steampunk theming but TINY and cramped with WAY TOO MUCH FOG!
The Coven - Um. A couple of 2X4's, random "witch like" characters and some fog does not make a good scare zone. I felt like this was a last minute "lets throw together one more scare zone with the extra $100 we have laying around. LAME.

Bill and Ted - Pretty slow this year. I've heard they have already tweaked it a few times and I hope they will continue. Lack of good movies to make fun of hampered their style but even the dance number was rather boring.

[acq10uazHave I mentioned how awesome donkeys are?]

I just found this on Youtube, I sometimes watch this guy and some other "Vloggers" (ShayCarl shout out!). Anyways, this is a great video with a look inside the houses!


MOD EDIT: Links removed. Universal has a strict anti-video/photography policy within their houses and we can not display links to material that violates their rules.

Universal actually hired these people to promote the event and showcase it for people who couldn't make it out to the event. But I think they were told not to show everything so people interested would come, basically like a commercial, which is how the people on YouTube make they're living, by product placements.

Larry, if you don't mind could I post the videos? The had definitely had permission. They even had a tour guide that made sure that they wouldn't get in trouble for filming.

Great pictures everyone. I've got to make it down there one of these days and go to HHN. It looks like an awesome event.