A Weekend in Orlando - October 17-20 - TR (VERY Photo Heavy)

[King_K.]

My first and pretty long TR the majority will be about HHN though.

Alright.

 

Friday --> Ft. Myers

 

Saturday --> Downtown Disney and Magical Midway (PART ONE)

 

Sunday Morning --> IOA and USF (PART TWO)

 

Sunday Afternoon --> USF + HHN (PART THREE)

 

Monday --> Old Town and Fun Spot. (PART FOUR)

 

HHN Trip Report.

 

Alright, I mention the Vault alot cause I was representing and wearing my HHNVault shirt, lol.

 

Got to Universal around 11am and decided to hit up IOA and USF before the event began. It ended up being a pretty good idea since their was virtually no-lines in either parks.

 

4:00pm - Lunch at Bubba Gump.

 

5:35pm - They open the arch gates and through the metal detectors, right off the bat I notice a few vault shirts and ZoCo Stickers.

 

6:00pm - Main gates open half an hour earlier and what a crowd!

 

Decided to run towards the first house of the night, "Creatures!" We had an express pass so we had alot of time to do all the houses, some rides, and see Bill and Ted.

 

-Creatures

It was definitely one of the best houses of the night. Maybe it was because my eyes hadn't adjusted from the sunlight that it made the house just -that- much scarier. The first scare of the night was a completely off-guard shotgun shot to my face. That definitely set the mood for the rest of the night. I didn't see C_D on that run through the house though. I was hoping that I'd catch him. Only saw one of the creatures in the house, and wasn't able to see the final one.

 

It was around 6:25pm and noticed that IT was about to open up so we got in line, also got to meet some Vaulters including the awesome Hush.

 

-Interstellar Terror

2nd best house of the night. Wow, when I saw the detail that this house had my jaw literally dropped. I got some great scares in this house, and since my eyes still hadn't adjusted from the sun I ran into a few walls. I noticed the "Catwalk" effect from Dead Silence used here pretty nicely and the always loves "Spin Tunnel" When I re-emerged on the upside down side of the house I literally had to catch my breath. Got a great scare at the finale. I noticed that this house had soooo many strobes. lol.

 

Around 6:50pm we decided to make a quick dash for Body Collectors.

 

-Body Collectors

Where to start. This was a great house! 4rd Favorite of the night. I recieved so many scares in this house that I simply cant remember all of them. I definitely remember one of the Assisstants yelling "VAULT" literally 1 millimeter from my face. That one made me jump. Also got a good scare from the "Spine Ripper" Collector and the loyal "Audience" members. The one thing that let me down from this house was that there was quite a bit of dead space.

 

Around 7:00pm we decided to hit up mummy, but big mistake. The ride was greaaaat as usual, but the lockers had this huge malfunction or something and we had to wait a good 15 mins and fill out some forms to get out stuff out. That was -not- fun.

 

7:30pm - time for a quick bite, bathroom break, got to meet RODDY!!! and Doomsday!

 

-Doomsday

This house was just too epic. I might be a little biased but I just loved this house. 3rd favorite of the night. Right of the bat as SOON as we step foot through the facade a chainsaw-er literally scared my friend to tears. Long story short she literally cried all the way from the entrance of the house till we were passing the pretzel cart outside the entrance to the Rocky Horror Tribute. Back to the subject of the house, I noticed a lot of vaulters working the house, or at least people who can easily recognize the shirts. I got several shout-outs and in-you-face scares. Especially a LOVELY scare from Suike with the saying "We don't like Vaulters round' these parts!!" The finale Sol was great and challenged me to a fist fight, great character work, this house kept me jumping and you can tell that they have a really dedicated cast.

 

7:55pm - Noticed that the Vault Group picture would be up very shortly. Decided to get my group to go from Doomsday to American Gothic, POTW, and Asylum so that they'd be able to see all the scarezones. Ended up at Mel and while they stood in line at a little outdoor food thing for Sliders (Which were AMAZINGLY delicious) I made a beeline for the little area to the left of the Skoolhouse. It was dark as hell by the way.

 

8:15pm on the DOT the photo was taken and Hush was thankful that we were all there on time, lol. She's such a trooper for making it out to the park while being sick. Thanks so much Hush! As soon as the photo was taken I had to bolt cause my food was getting cold. I did stay for just a bit and met a buuunch of people, like Rob and Jimmy.

 

8:30pm - My group decided to head to ROF. BIG MISTAKE. We ran into the biggest crowd I have ever seen. The house was a little over 90 mins for regular wait. We decided to leave it for last.

 

8:45pm - Dead Exposure time, it was also the one of the longest express lines of the night, about 20 mins.

 

Dead Exposure.

There is really not much to say about this house, I really didn't get one scare in this house. I like that they tried to include a little bit of a plot in there with the Charlie character, but I felt this house was lacking. I guess it's because my hopes were really too high for it or maybe I had some really bad timing, but yeah, this house was not on par with most of the houses that night.

 

9:15pm took a little breather and bathroom break. After that we headed to the Simpsons Ride. This is still my favorite ride in USF. I just love Homer too much.

 

9:30pm we ended up going through Fractured Tales. Kudos to the cast, my favorite street cast of the night and led to my favorite house of the night. Scary Tales.

 

Scary Tales III

Wow, what can I say. You can tell that building was made for the house. It had to be my most anticipated house of the night and left me awestruck. I received soooo many scares in this house. I also got a few Vault signs in this house too. I'm trying to remember the layout of the house so I can put the scares in sequential order but I cant. I can give some shoutouts though.

 

-The finale Scribes.

-3 of the Mirror Queens.

-The Hatter

-Tinman

-Grandmother

 

Such a GREAT GREAT house, the express line was a walk on too.

 

9:50pm we made a run for The Hallow.

 

The Hallow

This house surprised me a lot. Definitely a great cast and I received some pretty epic scares in this one. I loved the smell of this house, it was that Earth, Swamp-ish, Moss smell. My actual first scare of the night was one of the first Samhains. The second one was from a prop, I guess I wasn't paying attention and got smacked right in the face by a hanging head. Might I mention it was a wet head? So DISGUSTING, so I guess it did it's purpose. I had a few scares from the Witches and the Mask guys in the Hallway. One of the final Samhains in the house got me reaaal good.

 

10:10pm we made a quick run for Reflections of Fear.

 

Reflections of Fear.

I did not like this house, not the cast, just the house. The stand-by line was 120 minutes and we decided to brave it and go through the express in hopes that we'd be able to catch the last Bill and Ted show. The house itself looked like it could've been a great one. But it just had some poor execution, especially in the way the scares were set up. I pretty much just remember looking at them doing horrible things to other scareactors and not guest. It was a pretty dull house. The two "Claustrophobic" Walls were also not working. So that was also a downer, that and the fact that we missed the finale Mary. My only good note about this house goes to the Syringe Mary who was the only one who even made an effort to scare me, and to the women who play Mary herself. They are damn good looking. This house was not worth the 55 minute express line wait.

 

11:10pm, made it just in time for Bill and Ted. It was hilarious as usual, I did notice that there was a lot less dialogue and a lot more music/dancing numbers. Funny nonetheless.

 

11:55pm The loooong walk from the back of the park to the entrance was hell, my feet were killing me. Mind you, I've been at the resort for a full 13 hours at that point. I ended up buying most of my stuff then too, couple of shirts, lanyards, shot glass, and other souvenirs from the park and event.

 

12:35am The WORST part of the night. Waiting to leave the parking structure. We were on the 5th floor of the Cat in the Hat section and we didn't get on I-Drive till 1:44am.

 

 

 

 

On the Road!

 

 

Time for lunch!

 

 

The anticipation was killing me.

 

 

 

 

 

Best gas station..EVER.

 

 

 

I think we've arrived at Disney.

 

 

 

 

Pretty Empty

 

 

They were having some sort of canoeing competition.

 

 

 

Nature Shot!

 

 

The now defunct Adventurers Club.

 

 

Taking a breather.

 

 

The new T-Rex Restaurant which is now open

 

 

 

 

 

 

For you ball lovers out there.

 

 

 

 

Ducks are epic.

 

 

Magical Midway

 

 

Go-Karts

 

 

 

Those look pretty..safe.

 

 

S&S Goodness

 

 

 

 

I think Robb would like the Dinner Location.

[King_K.]

PART TWO

 

Time for USF, IOA, and HHN + Some random I-Drive Pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benefits of being an AP holder, NO FEES on regular parking.

 

 

 

Loving my day so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can't get enough of this coaster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Potter Building

 

 

Potter Building #2

 

 

 

 

Hatchling, this new animatronic was VERY fluid.

 

 

Spot the ringer.

 

 

 

 

No more Oak or Dragons

 

 

 

 

 

 

Potter Construction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She gave me her HHN Pin!

 

 

 

Who doesn't love him?

 

 

[King_K.]

 

 

 

Showing the Credential.

 

 

 

 

Love this ride, sooo much.

 

 

 

 

 

Not that long of a line, about 20 mins.

 

 

 

Hilarious.

 

 

 

This window should look familiar to those following the HHN Plot this year.

 

 

 

 

So So Clooooose.

 

 

 

Permanent display in the Horror Make-up Show.

 

 

Time for HHN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gotta love the flying monkeys.

 

 

Fast forward two hours.

 

 

 

Horseman

 

 

 

Doomsday

 

 

Mr. Roddy

 

 

The Caterpillar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting tired by now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yummy

 

 

Scary Tales III

 

 

Thank god for the express pass.

 

 

Reflections of Fear Facade and an ACE'er

 

 

Packed Exit

 

 

[King_K.]

Wow this is tedious work, lol.

 

PART FOUR.

 

 

Getting ready for the next day.

 

 

Fast forward to the next day at Fun Spot.

 

 

Yes, we did the infamous Skycoaster, it was my third time and her first.

 

 

 

Laser tag time.

 

 

 

And finally the ride home.

 

Hope you all enjoyed my first Trip Report.

 

Comments greatly appreciated.

[TheHulk]

VERY nice photos! I remember going around on the go karts at magic kingdom, and you have to press on the pedal pretty hard. My leg was actually a bit sore after driving them around. Anyway, I like parks much better at night, we got Magic kingdom all to ourselves for Grad Nite, and I LOVED it!

[King_K.]

Thanks for the comment!