HHN 17 - TR/Reviews of event 10/7

[CoasterJunkie]

I also was there on Sunday. We arrived to IOA around 3pm and there was a HUGE line waiting to get in. It had been raining off and on pretty heavy at times and many people were SOAKED.

 

We decided to go right to US around 4:30 and wait there for the event. This proved to be a VERY wise move. It began to rain around 5p and them poured for about 20m or so. We finally made our way to the holding area at the Boneyard. They had carnival games and booze setup for the masses. At 5:45, they allowed us into line for NOES. We waited another 10-15m then they let us into the house.

 

Nightmare on Elm Street:Dream Walkers - Ok, maybe it was the fact that it just opened..but there was a LARGE lack of scares or even scareactors in this house. I saw a glimpse of 1 Freddy. I walked out of the house going "HUH? Thats it?" 2/5

 

From there, we were let out back into the Boneyard, which was still closed off to keep us in. They let us out around 6:10. We were going to go get some food, but figured we would follow the masses to PsychoScarerapy. Posted time was 10m at this point, but since they just let us out, we knew it was wrong. We walked right in.

 

Let me point out one thing. I did NOT have Express passes. I never had used them prior years. I will from now on be getting them. One thing I saw was people using the passes for crap that had NO WAIT. What the hell people? They also were not scanning them in the beginning, so people could re-use them.

 

PsychoScareapy: Home For the Holidays: Ok I have always been a fan of this house in previous years, and this was no different. Lots of good scares here for me. One guy in the fence area seemed very fond of creeping me out over and over. Just enjoyable to me, and nothing beats Christmas music and Halloween! 4/5

 

Our original plan was to go to Dead Silence. It wasn't open yet at 6:25, so we walked down the street towards the Jack Show stage setup. The show was due to be starting, so we watched it. All the actors were lip synching, and the Jack was good, but he was breathing heavy into the mic and was annoying. Tag line for the show - Hell Yeah, Jack! It was ok, but not worth stopping.

 

With stomachs growling, we went off in search of food at the pizza joint. After our meal, we headed into Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Posted wait was 20m, we waited just about 15. Unfortunately, we also had to hear the Rocky Horror show, and I am NOT a fan.

 

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Flesh Wounds This house must be fully enjoyed in the dark. It was getting dark when I went, and it just wasn't enough. The set was awesome, but they didn't use enough from the films. The scares here were also lacking, but again, we caught them during a cast switch(we saw them coming in as we were entering) and that made the difference. Got chased outta there by Leatherface though, so that was fun. 2.5/5

 

We walked right into the Chainsaw Drill Team. I got cornered by 2 of them, before they found another, younger victim. We walked through Amity, and skipped Jason's house for the time, as I knew it needed dark. We walked into the 2nd show of Bill and Ted.

 

Bill and Ted Excellent Halloween AdventureOk this show sucked. Looking at Robb's Hollywood pics, it was the SAME show. I may be outta touch with pop-culture, as I didn't get half of the references and it just wasn't that funny. They did pay homage to BTTF and the Delorian did show up. That received a lot of cheers. They played the Transformers song from the cartoon also, and hubby enjoyed that. Otherwise, we left before it ended. 1/5

 

We continued on toward MIB. We got into line for Jack's house. Posted wait was 60m. We got into line and about 5m later, a announcement came through saying they were having "Technical Difficulties" so we left with the masses wondering what was up. We never made it back.

 

We walked through past BTTF building and noticed lots of changes to the front. We also saw the old store is now a Kwik-E-Mart. We heard them announcing The Freak Show starting so we stopped in.

 

The Freak Show:This show was supposed to have a different act over the course of the HHN event. We saw a guy BB(don't remember his name) and he supposedly was popular in college campuses. He did some weird things with pins and his eyes and other sharp objects, but at leats 1/4 of the audience left in the first 10m of the show. It really was dumb. Skip it! 1/5

 

We saw the line for Thing posted at 30 min, so that was our next trip. There also was a nice pot smell in this line. We waited about 15m for this.

 

The Thing: AssimilationI was weary as this is tent house. But I liked it. I liked the theming, but the scares here were lame. I was looking at a mutated dog like thing, and a scareactor gave me a "what you looking at!" I about jumped outta my skin. Otherwise, lacking in scare, but very nice looking. 2.5/5

 

We walked back toward the only scarezone in the park. WAY to much fog, because of the humidity I think. There were TONS of actors, but they were not very scary. One did follow us all the way through though. She had some fun with us. But otherwise, LAME!

 

We headed for Vampyr. Posted time was 45m. We waited about 20. There was a LOT of littering from the people in front of us. They put ALL there trash right on the ground. Disgusting. Also some guy thought it was funny to tap me on the shoulder as he walked by me. This freaked me out, and had my hubby really ticked off. Never figured out who it was.

 

Vampyr: Blood BathThe previous version of this house was awesome. This...not so much. Lots of hot vamp chicks, but no scares. It was also very dark and hard to see anything. It also was very short. Just not a good effort. 1/5

 

It was getting late, it was around 10p, so we headed back for Jason's house. As we were walking through Amity, I had a weird feeling, and there was someone walking practically into me on my left. I let out a "Oh My" as I turned to see them running back. It was a teenager, with a painted face and some kind of stuffed animal. Well they must have thought they were being funny, as they tried it again, this time 2 of them. My husband used the same tone he uses when the dogs act up telling them to back off, and that was the end of that! Friday the 13th had a posted wait of 75m. We waited 30.

 

One interesting thing. As we got into line, a couple entered behind us. Now the line was ALL the way in the back at this point. There was some porta pottys set up for use. Well the guy decided he was gonna go behind a wall to pee. His GF found it amusing. US Security did not. He was told to leave the line. I would have thrown him out. We also saw someone get busted by some cop, but not sure why.

 

Friday The 13th: Camp Blood:This was by far, my favorite house. LOTS of scares. Jason had me pinned to a wall, machete in my face, with that heard turn thing going. There also was one outside that was stalking me for a bit. Great set, great scares, awesome Jasons. Just a fun time. 4.5/5

 

After this we knew it was getting close to midnight. We walked to the front as we wanted to do Dead Silence. It was posted at 45m, we waited about that long. This was my worst time in line the entire event. Smokers right behind us. My comments and gagging on there smoke didn't help. They also were VERY loud and annoying. This carried over into the house.

 

Dead Silence: The Curse of Mary Shaw I was not a fan of the movie. I also do not like creepy dolls. This house could have been very good for me, but the people behind me really ruined my experience. I was deaf within the first 5 seconds of the house due to her fake blood curdling screams. From what I did try to enjoy, I LOVED. The Mary Shaw use was good, as were the creepy dolls. I am rating this high based on what I saw and felt it could have been. 4/5

 

This brought us to midnight, and we followed the masses outta there. We were home by 1:30a.

 

Final ThoughtsAll in all, a sucky year. The lack of scarezones made it apparent how bad some of the houses were in lacking of scares. I go to be scared and have fun. There was very little of that for me this year sadly.

 

As mentioned before, Express passes have become a MUST, even on Non-Peak. Of course at times, it seemed the Express line wait was a good 10-15min, it still will be something I get in the future.

 

The booze is EVERYWHERE. Worst part is, people are drunk by 7p. The public urination and other problems this year were the worst I have ever seen. Security seemed to be less in the lines also, so smoking was rampant. Hopefully this will get corrected for the future.

 

Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment or ask me anything. I hopefully will hit HOS soon and have a better review of that.

[Erik Johnson]

I have to agree about the scare zones, or lack of them, in that they were very lame this year. I think I would rather have Universal cut back on a house and spend the money needed to do a much better job in that department.

[ginzo]

Bill and Ted Excellent Halloween AdventureOk this show sucked. Looking at Robb's Hollywood pics, it was the SAME show. I may be outta touch with pop-culture, as I didn't get half of the references and it just wasn't that funny.

 

You not getting the references is hardly the same thing as the show not being funny. I enjoy Universal's willingness to rip on insane celebrities.

[CoasterJunkie]

People rip on celebrities all the time. Maybe if I had about 6-7 beers I might find it more commical. I have enjoyed the show in the past, I have seen every show since 1999, so this wasnt the first time seeing it for me.