Universal Orlando Resort (USO, IOA) Discussion Thread

[HatetoFLY]

^Bingo. I was there Thursday as well and it was extremely packed. It was my fourth trip of the event and it was just to busy for me. We left around 8:30 due to all lines being around 45-120 minutes. I saw Robb and the group walk into the park and then chill by the fountain, didn't bother them but I kept thinking to myself now I really know why the RIP tour is worth it when you only have one night. Great pics and hope you guys had a great time.

[Jumboshrmp]

It's hard to post an Excel spreadsheet into a message board...but here were the wait times for last night, every half hour. The first time is for 7:00, the last time is for 1:30.

 

By these numbers, it's obvious that Saw and Chucky need to be done first.

After that, it should have been no problem to get the rest of the houses in that night.

 

Chucky	10	10	20	30	45	90	75	60	60	60	60	60	45	45
The Spawning	15	20	20	30	45	45	45	45	45	30	30	20	10	5
Leave it to Cleaver	5	5	20	20	45	45	45	45	45	45	20	5	10	5
Dracula	10	30	30	45	45	45	45	30	30	60	20	20	20	20
The Wolfman	20	30	30	45	30	30	20	30	30	30	20	20	20	5
Silver Screams	5	5	30	15	20	25	30	20	35	35	20	20	20	15
Frankenstein	10	20	30	30	30	30	45	45	45	45	30	20	5	5
Saw	10	30	60	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	60

 

 

But tonight?

 

Saw has consistantly had 120 minutes, and at 10:30, Chucky had 120 minutes and Saw had 150.

[Jumboshrmp]

Why would you recommend doing Silver Screams first?

 

It has had the shortest lines of any of the houses.

 

I'd say go for Saw, Chucky, and the Spawning first, because the lines for those will get unbearable later on.

 

(EDIT: I guess what you said makes sense because that is the order that those houses are from the entrance. I guess I'm just more willing to walk out of my way to ensure I get in before the line gets long)

[coastered]

For all you Harry Potter fans I have an exclusive Hogwarts Flyover video.

Here you can see the size of the building behind the castle.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAVIBPqWQHU

[buddhafsu]

Has anyone done the express pass? I am thinking of buying one of my friend and using this since he is not able to go. Also do they check ids for the express pass as my friends has his name on his express pass ticket.

[buddhafsu]

I used the express pass every night I went (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) and it was worth every penny. The name on the express pass doesn't matter. It will just be scanned near the entrance to each house. And the express pass works for each house and attraction once.

Thanks dude, I was worried that they were going to check the name on it and I was going to have to wait in lines, but if they don't then I am scooping it up for this Saturday, only reason I am asking is because they just sold out.

[adeuce02]

If you get there right at 6 go to saw first. Saw always has the longest wait because they cant push capacity due to the size.

[TheWhiteKidFromDetroit]

When I go on Saturday, if I decide to go to Silver Screams first, and then SAW after, what would you guys estimate SAW's wait time to be?

 

I'm showing up an hour before the gates open at 6, btw.

[adeuce02]

im not sure but i know 3houses atleast open at 6 Saw wolfman and dracula. I know my house frankenstein leave it to cleaver and spawning open at 630 ill try and check for u later this week. But i would guess saw would have a 30-45 wait.

[TheWhiteKidFromDetroit]

im not sure but i know 3houses atleast open at 6 Saw wolfman and dracula. I know my house frankenstein leave it to cleaver and spawning open at 630 ill try and check for u later this week. But i would guess saw would have a 30-45 wait.

Ohhhhh, I had no idea that there was a staggered opening for non-Stay and Scream people...

 

If it's only those 3 houses starting at 6, were probably gonna go Saw first

[Jumboshrmp]

I just got back from my first HHN ever!

Last night was amazing!

I will be posting a full trip report on HHNVault and in this thread later today or whenever I get around to it.

 

I got into the park a little after 6 pm and I was able to get 4 houses done (not including the one I did twice in a row) in the first hour, easily.

 

No Express Pass, and I did ever single house at least once.

 

I did Silver Screams 3 times and all three soundstage houses twice (once with my friend and once by myself at the end of the night...she didnt want to go twice).

 

My friend (who is a girl) had most of the scares aimed at her all night.

 

She says "It's fun being scared but I don't like it because it's scary."

 

She agreed to do everything once, and since she's such a great friend, was happy to sit and watch the chainsaw guys scare other people while I did houses a second time.

 

Even though most of the scares were aimed at her (she refused to walk behind me even though I wanted to be in front anyway), the ones that got me were great.

 

Especially at the end of the night, at around 1:50 am, when I went though Dracula completely by myself. I let the group in front of me pass, and I waited about 45 seconds and explained to the greeter at the entrance why I was standing there (she thought I was either lost or too nervous to go in).

 

Best experience all night. I jumped about 20 times and I was able to slow down and even stop to look at all the detail.

 

I even had one of Dracula's brides follow me down a hallway. I didn't even know she was following me until I saw the look on the security guard's face, and looked behind me to see what she was smiling about.

 

I'll post more later, when I have time.

[eagleskyline]

I went a few weeks ago, ready to experience every house, and then I ended up getting sick =/ I still went, but the first house, Saw, made me feel very lightheaded, made me walk very slowly, and feel delusional at some parts. Normally the smoke and strobe lights don't get to me, but since I was sick, they only heightened my illness. But, this year was still great. After four years ago, I still say HNN 18 is my favorite, but this year was definitely second best.

Houses:

-Saw-2/5. I couldn't see much of what was going on in this house, I got scared a few times thanks to the pig-masked people, but excluding the part where the house made me sick, I'd say this house was definitely just ok.

-Spawning-N/A. I sat this one out because I feel like I was going to puke (luckily I didn't), but my friends still went on it. According to them I didn't miss much, so I'd say the average opinion for this house was a 2 or 3 out of 5.

-Silver Screams-5/5. Luckily I started feeling better for this AMAZING house. Unfortunately I missed the facade and the changing of the theater effect, but this house was great. I couldn't see much of the Phantom of the Opera excluding the Phantom, Harry Warden scared my friend well in My Bloody Valentine, The Strangers looked very close to the actual movie, The Thing section was dark but creepy, one movie I can't remember the name of we rushed through, which was very funny because that area looked creepy, and I didn't really get the Shaun of the Dead part. Plus, a creepy looking Julian scared the crap out of me. One of my favorite houses EVER.

-Leave it to Cleaver-3/5. The tongue-in-cheek house of the year. I always expect scares, so this house wasn't that scary. A few loud noises and an unexpected guy scared me, but what I enjoyed about this house was the black humor and the interactiveness of the scareactors. While not very scary, it was enjoyable and fun.

-Wolfman-5/5. If I could give this a 6/5 I would. It was spectacular; however, I believe the front or maybe the middle near the end sections of the line are best for this house. Luckily, I was second to the front behind my friend who was going in alone, so that feeling of isolation really helped. Wolfman himself pretty much got us every time, it was great. The sound effects were great, the scenery was awesome, and the scares were rampant. Along with Silver Screams as one of the best houses I've been in.

That's it for houses, I wanted to go on all of them but eh, hopefully next year.

Unfortunately, one aspect of this year I didn't like was the scare zones. Compared to last year's amazing zones, they were pretty mediocre.

-Containment-1/5. Did not get scared at all, very dumb looking scare zone, crap crap crap.

-Light, Camera, Hackton!-2/5. The chainsaw guys are always cool, didn't get scared in particular but I enjoyed walking through it I suppose.

-Cirque Du Freak-2/5. This was an ok scare zone. The fact that it was rather minute didn't help much, and I wasn't scared walking through it but I liked the presentation.

-War of the Living Dead-2/5. Another scare zone with great presentation but not very delivering in terms of scares. Another scare zone in which I did not get scared at all, a recurring statement isn't it?

-Apocalypse: City of Cannibals-1/5. Between this and Containment, I'm not sure which is worse. Yes, the bus and the fire hydrant were cool props, but this just wasn't any fun nor frightening. The cannibals looked retarded and the victims didn't do much of anything. Quite awful.

-Horrorwood Die In-4/5. I got scared once via not paying attention and it was a good scare zone. It was fun identifying the characters and enjoyable to walk through; however, if this were placed last year, it would've gotten a lower rating.

 

So overall, HNN 19 was great. I probably could've had more fun if I didn't get sick in the first two hours, but the event was highly enjoyable. I don't understand why the scare zones were so awful this year, maybe they had less of a budget to work with.

And a question, were Frankenstein and Dracula as awesome as everyone said? My one regret of the night is not being able to go on those.

[JT3000]

And a question, were Frankenstein and Dracula as awesome as everyone said? My one regret of the night is not being able to go on those.

 

They're two of the better houses. The soundstages usually are.

[Erik Johnson]

I am really looking foward to this, though they did throw away my Dragons into a dumpster.

 

[alpengeist04]

^Don't even get me going on that. I just wish they could have done Harry Potter without involving Dueling Dragons. Oh well. Still, I'm really looking forward to the new dark ride and I'm really liking the look of the castle. ...Especially in person.

[jarmor]

Hummm...I thought Universal was a pack rat when it comes to retaining history...

[krazekiddd]

After seeing it in person a couple of weeks ago, I'm super stoked to see it when it opens. I'm sure I'll be buying express passes when it is ready to go.

[adeuce02]

im glad u had a good time when u went in frankenstein did you get the guy at the end that snarl if so its really weird.

[disneyfan1313]

From the HHN Facebook Page...

 

An all-new terrifying scarezone will emerge from the shadows this week at HHN. Guests who are brave enough to walk the ominous NY alley will have the chance to inspire elements of next year’s 20th anniversary, telling HHN creators what scares them the most.

 

How exciting is this?! Apparently it is going to be set up in "Sting Alley" (that dark Alley in the NY area). The rumors are it will feature either past icons (jack, caretaker, etc) or new creatures that are up for consideration for next year.

 

I will be hopefully going on Thursday again - can't wait to see!

[Moose]

^My ranking of the mazes is just about the opposite of yours, with Saw and Leave it to Cleaver being on the bottom along with the Spawning (which didn't scare me but managed to get me lost)

[Moose]

I somehow lost the people in front of me (and mybe behind me) and was wandering around in circles in that room. The security guard had to help me get out. A bedroom with strobes like that could be interesting. It would make getting up in the middle of the night a challenge.

[ernierocker]

I have the Spawning at the bottom of the list. This is mainly due to the fact that I just can't remember much about it.

 

If I had to rank the houses I would go:

 

1) Chucky (just pure fun)

2) Frankenstein

3) Saw

4) Dracula

5) Silver Screams

6) Leave it to Cleaver

7) Wolfman (mainly due to terrible timing and missing every scare)

8) The Spawning

[HatetoFLY]

Yeah, my favorite scene in The Spawning was the final scene. Those are some of the most intense strobe lights I've ever seen used in a house. I want my bedroom to look like that!

 

Agreed, the ending to that house is just torture on the senses. The strobes were hitting so hard for such a long period ( well it seemed like forever) I got to the point where I wanted to run but I kept my cool and was out shortly afterwards.

 

For those who haven't been in it, its not like the finale of the Hallow, the dream state of Nightmare on Elm Street Dreamwalkers, or even Dead Silence. The use of strobes IMO in these houses made it somewhat difficult to see and accelerated movement. Where as the Spawning is like total blinding light going from dark to blinding light quickly. Its an intense last room if your not to keen on strobes. Sorry kind of rambled there.

[adeuce02]

It seems people either really like spawning or hate it. My updated rankings are

 

1. Dracula

2. Silver Screams

3. Frankenstein(not because i work there guy at the end is awesome)

4. Saw

5. Wolfman

6. Chucky

7. Leave it to cleaver

8. Spawning

[inhaledtales]

I have a question that may have been addressed before.

 

I'm flying down for the Horror Nights tomorrow and am going to buy tickets online pretending I'm a FL resident. The savings are too big to not try.

 

So my question is, how will they know I'm not a FL resident if I buy the tix online? A good friend of mine lives down there and I can use his address for the online purchase. I guess if they check my ID at the gate I can just say I moved down there a few weeks ago and haven't had time to change it?

 

Is this too much trouble to save $60 (2 tix worth)?

 

Thanks for your help