Official 2022 HHN 31 - Horror is Universal

[mamamelody2]

We are at Aventura 9/2-10.
This is our first ever HHN and we have the Rush of Fear pass with no express.
Yesterday the plan was to go to IOA and get in Velocicoaster, then Hagrid's at closing, then walk over for HHN.
Because of threatening rain and the fact that the outdoor rides weren't open, we waited around to see what would happen. Then my 16 year old son said he wasn't up for both parks as we had been up since 4 AM.

SO, we just went to UOR for HHN at 7. We didn't do a lot because we were looking to get the lay of the land and my son was very tired. First thing we rode Transformers which was a straight walk-on. We rode Mummy (son had never ridden it). Posted 35, off the ride in 20. Rode Gringott's. Posted 20 which was accurate. I was surprised how many regular park food places were open what with all the extra HHN food. We will be getting ice cream at Florean Fortescue's one of these nights.

We enjoyed the scare zones. I didn't expect one woman scareactor to come up to me and scream full in my face. I may have peed a little. They are watching and if you're not paying attention, they'll get ya! LOL.

We only did one house, the chupacabra one. It seemed pretty good to me, but what do I know it was my first haunted house ever and I am 50. I screamed and said some words I shouldn't say around my son. Haha! After a while I was basically just staring at my husband's back trying to make it through. Hopefully I'll get braver!! Wait was posted 35, after we had been waiting a few minutes I checked and it had gone up to 75. Only waited 25 though.

At this point it was after 10 and my son was toast. We went back to the hotel.

We are going back tonight. Planning to get in by 5, then get a ton of stuff done. I'll try to report back!

 

[ClapYourHands]

Reporting in from opening night - another great event this year and glad to see it back to form (even if busy as ever). A few hiccups in how things were running, but it’s opening weekend and they’ll work through those. Overall though a solid show for HHN 31. A few general observations (no spoilers):

-Typical year where there are a few strong houses, a few weaker ones and most in the middle. No duds - but a couple that didn’t live up to their potential. Two others that “overachieved” after some low expectations. There’s one house though that I expect to make the “all time” list of great houses.
-Very glad for the return of SIF!! It was put to good use in most of the houses - and a few that really use it to amp up the tension and scares.
-Scarezones are solid - one of the better collections in awhile. Three of them are very strong and they were all well staffed with SAs whenever we walked through. As always, much better to wander the SZs after dark and the fog is thick.
-Booth lines are as long as ever, but lots of interesting options
-Choke points are as crowded as ever. Some traffic jams in exit queues where they used narrow barrier paths. Bonus points though for that ramp outside the back of park sprung tents - no rain last night but it’ll be nice not stepping in puddles.
-Some longer walks this year where they redid some of the entrance queues. Harder to asses lines where they continue to put (even more) switchbacks backstage and you can’t see them. They’re still figuring out how to post times based on the queues. Some might be shorter - or a lot longer - than what’s posted.
-Express waits were on the longer side - I’ll chalk it up to opening weekend, but a few were a solid 20-30 minute wait. Still - much better than the standby lines which were running around 60 minutes or so most of the evening. Seemed that the pulsing for express was keeping to the “half the standby time” rule of thumb - but also overheard some TMs trying to clear Express when it was getting backed up.
-Great use of Fast & Furious this year and worked well for the event. More space than the sprung tents - and each of the movies featured was close to a full length house in their own right. You could argue there’s 11 houses this year - with Blumhouse being a “double feature”. If you’ve done Blumhouse houses in the past (and aware of the awkward mash-up feel), you may be surprised with how this one is so well handled. You think you’re almost done - and then realize you’re only halfway there.
-Chainsaw gangs wandering everywhere it seemed.
-Going to very hard to do everything in one night this year - there’s just a lot more to see and experience beyond the houses. We did all ten houses (with Express), wandered the SZs and had a couple of short breaks - no rides or shows - and that took a solid 5 hours.

Looking forward to some second walkthroughs and going back the next couple of nights!

Okay this is amazing, but it’s definitely not a spoiler to dish on where you rank the houses. Maybe you could do a spoiler warning or send it in message form to interested people, but I really really want guidance on prioritizing houses. I will not have EP, so if something isn’t worth the hype, that is super valuable info.

 

[djmeredith]

We made a last minute change of plans and upgraded to ROF so we can go tonight. It’s 5:00 now and we are eating dinner. Can we enter any time with our APs or are we stuck outside until they let resort guests in?

 

[keishashadow]

face. I may have peed a little. They are watching and if you're not paying attention, they'll get ya! LOL.

We only did one house, the chupacabra one. It seemed pretty good to me, but what do I know it was my first haunted house ever and I am 50.

You know as much as anyone else what you like! Thanks for sharing. I have high hopes for that one

 

[ShadeDK]

For those interested, here’s my ranking of the houses so far:

Spoiler: Spoiler: House Ranking and comments

1. Dead Man’s Pier - incredible sets, story, scares, and a completely immersive experience. “Haunting” in the best way. This one is quintessential HHN.
2. The Weeknd - I was skeptical of this house, but it won me over. Scary and fun at the same time. A “trippy” house in the best way. Makes a lot more sense though if you watch the videos first for the featured songs. Also surreal watching a thousand or more people dancing and singing along in an HHN queue.
3. Bugs - Eaten Alive - another fun house and more dark comedy/gross factors than scares.
4. Halloween - very good house and great scares. You’re gonna see Michael - a lot. Interesting use of a “prologue” at the start of the house and later on putting you in the “middle” of the action
5. Universal Monsters - great sets and interesting story, but feels a little familiar. On par with Bride of Frankenstein but not as good as the first Monsters house. Very Mummy heavy if that makes a difference
6. Blumhouse - I’d have put this at the bottom based on expectations, but this was really good. Separate sections for each movie and we’ll paced. Great section of curtains/SIF where you’re just waiting for something to happen. I preferred Black Phone to Freaky
7. Descendants of Destruction - good house and good scares, with great luminescent visuals at the end, but leaned a little heavy on the post apocalyptic Mad Max style survivor element than scares.
8. Hell Block - if you know the history of how this house came about, you’ll appreciate that they did as much as they did in a short time. But it still feels thrown together and incomplete. You’ll see some old favorites from past HHNs - including a few from Legendary Truth and past scare zones.
9. Fiesta de Chupacabra- this has potential to be amazing but falls kind of flat. Drab where it could have been colorful. Many more villagers coming after you than creatures. And the creatures - well, I’ve never seen Chupacabra that mostly look like werewolves. Great puppet work but not as many as would make it great.
10. Spirits of the Coven - another house with potential but doesn’t go anywhere. The witches aren’t particularly scary and the story isn’t terribly interesting. Decent sets but the house felt dead in places. Maybe a bad walkthrough but it felt like it was trying too hard.

 

[mamapenguin]

We made a last minute change of plans and upgraded to ROF so we can go tonight. It’s 5:00 now and we are eating dinner. Can we enter any time with our APs or are we stuck outside until they let resort guests in?

Once they close for day entry you are stuck with the resort entry, but that’s way better than main entry. It happened to us first night we did HHN last year. I thought we had until 5:00 and we were turned away at the main gate ( we have Premiere APs) Resort line wasn’t bad.
How was entry at 7:00?

 

[tinkerbell1991]

I'm not too sure if there's actually something out there like this already but is there any sort of list that names the food item and where abouts in the park to get it as I'm not all that familiar with the Studios map/layout (HHN specific).

 

[SquashBanana]

For those interested, here’s my ranking of the houses so far:

Spoiler: Spoiler: House Ranking and comments

1. Dead Man’s Pier - incredible sets, story, scares, and a completely immersive experience. “Haunting” in the best way. This one is quintessential HHN.
2. The Weeknd - I was skeptical of this house, but it won me over. Scary and fun at the same time. A “trippy” house in the best way. Makes a lot more sense though if you watch the videos first for the featured songs. Also surreal watching a thousand or more people dancing and singing along in an HHN queue.
3. Bugs - Eaten Alive - another fun house and more dark comedy/gross factors than scares.
4. Halloween - very good house and great scares. You’re gonna see Michael - a lot. Interesting use of a “prologue” at the start of the house and later on putting you in the “middle” of the action
5. Universal Monsters - great sets and interesting story, but feels a little familiar. On par with Bride of Frankenstein but not as good as the first Monsters house. Very Mummy heavy if that makes a difference
6. Blumhouse - I’d have put this at the bottom based on expectations, but this was really good. Separate sections for each movie and we’ll paced. Great section of curtains/SIF where you’re just waiting for something to happen. I preferred Black Phone to Freaky
7. Descendants of Destruction - good house and good scares, with great luminescent visuals at the end, but leaned a little heavy on the post apocalyptic Mad Max style survivor element than scares.
8. Hell Block - if you know the history of how this house came about, you’ll appreciate that they did as much as they did in a short time. But it still feels thrown together and incomplete. You’ll see some old favorites from past HHNs - including a few from Legendary Truth and past scare zones.
9. Fiesta de Chupacabra- this has potential to be amazing but falls kind of flat. Drab where it could have been colorful. Many more villagers coming after you than creatures. And the creatures - well, I’ve never seen Chupacabra that mostly look like werewolves. Great puppet work but not as many as would make it great.
10. Spirits of the Coven - another house with potential but doesn’t go anywhere. The witches aren’t particularly scary and the story isn’t terribly interesting. Decent sets but the house felt dead in places. Maybe a bad walkthrough but it felt like it was trying too hard.

Thanks for this. I'll admit I just read the list of house names and ignored the commentary. I'm going next weekend so it'll be interesting to read everything afterwards and see how our perspectives line up.

 

[djmeredith]

Once they close for day entry you are stuck with the resort entry, but that’s way better than main entry. It happened to us first night we did HHN last year. I thought we had until 5:00 and we were turned away at the main gate ( we have Premiere APs) Resort line wasn’t bad.
How was entry at 7:00?

Thank you. This is exactly what happened to us. Resort entry over by BMG entrance was great at 5:45ish for us. Scanned in with no wait (except for the rude person who held up the line while she searched her ENTIRE backpack and wallet for her picture ID. Move aside lady! (Be sure you have an id if your over 18.)

We walked in and there were a few workers and guests just kinda milling about. Then a worker could tell we were all confused and asked us if we wanted to go ahead and do the Hellblock Horror house or wait. I had no idea what we would’ve waited for but I think it was the direct entry to the main park area. We decided to go into the house and there was no wait.

In 2 hrs without EP we did Hellblock Horror (walk on), Spirits of the Coven (15ish mins), Diagon Alley (wands and Gringotts), Blumhouse (walk on) and went through 2 or 3 scare zones. We will do a holding area tomorrow using our APs, so I’ll report back with a comparison of the two early entry experiences.

NO SPOILERS but I will give my opinions of how scary I thought things were in general. I know we have several other people on here who mentioned being scaredy cats like me. Hope this is helpful; feel free to ask questions.

I am a scaredy cat middle aged woman and it’s my first HHN experience. Haven’t done a haunted house in 20+ years. I only spent 2 hrs at HHN tonight because my day started at 3:00 am. are still there. I am here with my 14 and almost 17 yo nephews. They are still at the parks (oh to be young again).

By 7:40, we had done all of the things I listed above. The Fury show was seating people for the 8:00 show at this time. They didn’t appear to be turning anyone away, so probably plenty of seats left. Halloween (and maybe every other) remained at 50 mins or less until this point. Then there was a big jump right around this time for a few of them. But even as I write this at 9:35, Monsters and Deadman’s Pier are at 70 Bugs is 65, but several are still only 45-50 mins. The overall crowd level was still very manageable when I left at 8:00. I think the longest wait at that time was 60/65.

I was so nervous to do the houses! I HATE to be startled (so of course my nephews torture me at home). My oldest nephew went through them in front, then the 14 yo, then me. My parental instincts went out the window! In HH, I pushed those kids TOWARD the scary people to put more distance between me and the scary stuff! All while having a death grip on the 14
yo’s arm. He literally had red marks after HH. BUT it was fun scary not overwhelming or terrifying. Coven also wasn’t too scary. After the first house, I started putting my hands on my nephew’s soldiers. That seemed to work well for me. I think I closed my eyes once or twice in Blumhouse but overall the 3 we did tonight weren’t too bad.

It was just getting dark as I walked out. So I experienced the scare zones in broad daylight and they weren’t scary to me at all. In fact, I laughed a few times. It was definitely a lot creepier at dusk as I walked all the way from MIB to the front by myself. I shamelessly tried to hide behind a strager through one area. And then in Hollywood, I skipped the entire thing by walking on the sidewalk behind it.

I was shocked at how low the crowds still were on the streets at 8:00 based on what I had read about opening wknd being packed. However, I am VERY glad I upgraded to the ROF ticket on a whim. It was nice not rushing or waiting in any long lines since I knew I’d be back with EP tomorrow.

 

[djmeredith]

I'm not too sure if there's actually something out there like this already but is there any sort of list that names the food item and where abouts in the park to get it as I'm not all that familiar with the Studios map/layout (HHN specific).

This would be so helpful! All I really care about though is where can I find the pizza fries!? We really want to try those.

 

[djmeredith]

One other tip I have is to be sure you make a dinner reservation if you want to eat a sit down meal before regular HHN entry. I made a res at NBC at 4:15 for a 4:45 seating. It actually showed plenty of availability but they were turning walk ups away when we got there. There was also a bunch of people sitting by Margaritaville waiting to get in.

 

[ShadeDK]

HHN Night 2 recap: another busy evening, but a little more normal without the opening night craziness. We didn’t have Express tonight, so didn’t push as hard since we got through all the houses yesterday.

Tried to hit Mummy before going to the holding pens, but they closed the line at 4:30. Picked the New York Stay & Scream and got some snacks at Meetz Meats set up in the alley (which was open and had no line). This area officially releases to Halloween and Spirits of the Coven. Halloween had a line that snaked through the entire holding pen area and opened with a 40 minute wait. They released both lines to start filling the queues around 5:45 and were running by about 5:50.

They let us start an “unofficial” line at the corner of the pen across from the tribute store and let us through about 5:50 to start filling the queues for Chupacabra and Dead Mans Pier - those houses don’t appear to have a S&S area and open at 6pm. We opted for that and had about a 5 minute wait for Dead Mans Pier when it opened a little after 6pm.

Headed towards the back of park after that and hit Bugs. Posted at 10 minutes but was closer to 20. The exit spits out by Descendants of Destruction, but that was posted at 35 around 6:45. Blumhouse was listed at 10 minutes, so we headed over there. Real wait was again about 20 minutes - but posted wait hit 50 min while we were in line so we lucked out (ended up going through right behind Rick and Nikki from Rix Flix).

Got in the waiting area for Nightmare Fuel around 7:30 for the 8pm show. They sent us in about 7:45 and it was a full house by the start. Seems very similar to the last one. A few families with younger kids got up and left midway through - must’ve thought they weren’t serious about that “adult nature” warning at the start.

Wandered the scarezones and hit some booths after the show. I have noticed more of the scare actors in the zones constantly moving/pacing - far less stopping and posing for “photo ops” while in character. Most houses posted at 50-60 minutes (and Mummy at 35) around 10pm - so called it a night after a late one yesterday.

 

[ClapYourHands]

HHN Night 2 recap: another busy evening, but a little more normal without the opening night craziness. We didn’t have Express tonight, so didn’t push as hard since we got through all the houses yesterday.

Tried to hit Mummy before going to the holding pens, but they closed the line at 4:30. Picked the New York Stay & Scream and got some snacks at Meetz Meats set up in the alley (which was open and had no line). This area officially releases to Halloween and Spirits of the Coven. Halloween had a line that snaked through the entire holding pen area and opened with a 40 minute wait. They released both lines to start filling the queues around 5:45 and were running by about 5:50.

They let us start an “unofficial” line at the corner of the pen across from the tribute store and let us through about 5:50 to start filling the queues for Chupacabra and Dead Mans Pier - those houses don’t appear to have a S&S area and open at 6pm. We opted for that and had about a 5 minute wait for Dead Mans Pier when it opened a little after 6pm.

Headed towards the back of park after that and hit Bugs. Posted at 10 minutes but was closer to 20. The exit spits out by Descendants of Destruction, but that was posted at 35 around 6:45. Blumhouse was listed at 10 minutes, so we headed over there. Real wait was again about 20 minutes - but posted wait hit 50 min while we were in line so we lucked out (ended up going through right behind Rick and Nikki from Rix Flix).

Got in the waiting area for Nightmare Fuel around 7:30 for the 8pm show… A few families with younger kids got up and left midway through - must’ve thought they weren’t serious about that “adult nature” warning

First, thank you for the rankings in your other post. I had my kids choose their priority houses based on descriptions, and my first-timer has been really looking forward to your #1 ranked house, so this reinforces that.

I also appreciate knowing how the S&S lines are working. I won’t have that advantage, but it does help me plan around them for a main entrance attack. The inaccurate wait times are a bummer for someone like myself without EP, but as it’s the first weekend, I imagine they’re still figuring out how to estimate the line length to wait time ratio.

As for families leaving during Nightmare Fuel, maybe it wasn’t ignoring the warnings so much as mismatched expectations. So many people post about their kids liking horror movies, asking if HHN would be appropriate, and others confirming their little Brayden has been going since he was 8 and loving it. And so people think HHN is all about the horror - the blood and guts and chainsaws and jump scares. Then there’s NF, which completely changes gears from scary gorey to raunchy sexy. While the acrobatics and pyrotechnics of the show are stunning, it feels really incongruous with the rest of the event, so it’s not what people expect. I also think there’s a little bit of cry-wolf syndrome at play here with UO putting a blanket age-warning on the event, but then having scare zones PG, houses that are PG/PG-13, and a show that’s closer to R (and for different reasons).

As for content, does this year’s show have more of a plot than last year’s did? I thought my teen would have loved last year’s show (precisely because of the adult nature), but he found it repetitive. His assessment is that it was cool in the beginning, but never developed past hula hoops and fire over and over again. We are hoping for more storytelling this year.

 

[ShadeDK]

As for content, does this year’s show have more of a plot than last year’s did?

This seems to be the same story, themes and overall effects as the previous Nightmare Fuel. Some of the choreography and songs appear to have changed.

A little more info (so I don’t spoil anything for those who haven’t seen it):

Spoiler: Additional info on Nightmare Fuel

I actually thought this was the exact same when it started. The set is mostly the same. It starts with the protagonist getting into bed and setting his alarm clock before the nightmares arrive. Similar aerial performances and the hoop is back. Lots of fire. Similar magic trick elements. The story ends with the protagonist finding and wielding a machete to join his nightmares.

 

[tinkerbell1991]

This would be so helpful! All I really care about though is where can I find the pizza fries!? We really want to try those.

Mine's the cheese dog and pizza fries (I always hear about thee so feel I'm missing out ). I just know once I'm caught up in the HHN atmosphere, I'll forget where everything is

 

[keishashadow]

Lot of great mini TRs here, thanks! Keep them coming

It’s been confirmed that:

the after 11 pm EPs were sold last night

&

The sweet revenge parade floats were left out in the street during the day.

 

[jessicag13]

I'm not too sure if there's actually something out there like this already but is there any sort of list that names the food item and where abouts in the park to get it as I'm not all that familiar with the Studios map/layout (HHN specific).

this person on twitter made an awesome google sheet that you can check off and total costs. or you can save the photo if you want a plain list to refer to

https://twitter.com/x/status/1565794602958917637

 

[wdwrule]

Does anyone know if you have to be 21+ to enter Dead Coconut Club? I’d love to visit there with my 18 year old to check it out. I know she can’t sit at the bar there, but we’d love to at least enjoy all the aesthetics.

 

[Giraffe Lounge]

My completely subjective rankings:

Spoiler

EXCELLENT
1. Dead Man’s Pier
2. Chupacabra
3. Spirits of the Coven
4. Descendants of Destruction

SOLID
5. Universal Monsters Collide
6. Bugs Eaten Alive
7. Halloween
8. The Weeknd After Hours

MEH
9. Hellblock Horror
10. Horrible Blumhouse

I’m admittedly mostly a fan of theme and setting more than scares, so YMMV.

 

[mamapenguin]

Lot of great mini TRs here, thanks! Keep them coming

It’s been confirmed that:

the after 11 pm EPs were sold last night

&

The sweet revenge parade floats were left out in the street during the day.

What was the price?