Official 2022 HHN 31 - Horror is Universal

[Monykalyn]

Quick update
Got into HHN after 8-rain had stopped-did 6 houses and walked thru all 5 scarezones. Left around 1130 (I’d been up since 4 am to get my flight)
Ranked order based on one walkthrough
6- Hellblock (also the first house we did-was ok, glad this was first house though or I think it’d really be a letdown)
5-Descendants of destruction. Cool set design and couple good scares
4-the Weeknd. Really cool vibe in line, house is freaky, great soundtrack. Really like the house!
3-Fiesta de Chupacabra-great set, some good scares, this one I noticed smells in one scene in particular!
2. deadman’s Pier . Deadman’s pier is just eerily gorgeous sets, temperature is perfect (you feel rain/snow a couple times). They went all out on this set.
1. Monsters-some of the best scares of the night. Yes it’s Mummy heavy-it’s designed that way as Hollywood has part 2. Last night Dracula was winner . The scareactors were going ALL out last night. I got a genuine jump scare as there was a great takeout. The people behind us kept apologizing cuz he kept running into us trying to get away from the scares, the group of girls in front of us were so jumpy that by end of house I was in tears from laughing (the guy behind us was hilarious too). Sometimes even if you aren’t the one getting all the good scares (I did get a great one) it’s the people around you that make it FUN. Yes capitals FUN lol!
The scarezones are just out of this word this year. So far Graveyard is my fave. So much fog it allows the scare actors to pop right out at you. We were stalked by grim reaper on stilts-didn’t realize he was right behind us halfway through zone-we looked back and he was right there-dtr and I both screamed a little. Then moved on-as we were coming out of zone I looked back again and he was STILL right behind us-we both ran a bit lol. It’s hard to describe how creepy that was! Loved it!!
Hopin to do a run thru of houses we missed last night tonight. Kiddo works to 11 pm so will see how she feels after-I’ll go alone (yes we are not supposed to Go Alone ) for a bit.
Also other than Monsters EP line the rest of the EP lines were well below the 50% of regular line (example: standby 50 minutes usually EP was 15 or less. Monsters we waited 25 when Standby was 45-so still not bad)

 

[SquashBanana]

Based on the limited data so far, it seems like the NY S&S location is the optimal one? Are there any other suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[neverenoughtime]

Quick update
Got into HHN after 8-rain had stopped-did 6 houses and walked thru all 5 scarezones. Left around 1130 (I’d been up since 4 am to get my flight)
Ranked order based on one walkthrough
6- Hellblock (also the first house we did-was ok, glad this was first house though or I think it’d really be a letdown)
5-Descendants of destruction. Cool set design and couple good scares
4-the Weeknd. Really cool vibe in line, house is freaky, great soundtrack. Really like the house!
3-Fiesta de Chupacabra-great set, some good scares, this one I noticed smells in one scene in particular!
2. deadman’s Pier . Deadman’s pier is just eerily gorgeous sets, temperature is perfect (you feel rain/snow a couple times). They went all out on this set.
1. Monsters-some of the best scares of the night. Yes it’s Mummy heavy-it’s designed that way as Hollywood has part 2. Last night Dracula was winner . The scareactors were going ALL out last night. I got a genuine jump scare as there was a great takeout. The people behind us kept apologizing cuz he kept running into us trying to get away from the scares, the group of girls in front of us were so jumpy that by end of house I was in tears from laughing (the guy behind us was hilarious too). Sometimes even if you aren’t the one getting all the good scares (I did get a great one) it’s the people around you that make it FUN. Yes capitals FUN lol!
The scarezones are just out of this word this year. So far Graveyard is my fave. So much fog it allows the scare actors to pop right out at you. We were stalked by grim reaper on stilts-didn’t realize he was right behind us halfway through zone-we looked back and he was right there-dtr and I both screamed a little. Then moved on-as we were coming out of zone I looked back again and he was STILL right behind us-we both ran a bit lol. It’s hard to describe how creepy that was! Loved it!!
Hopin to do a run thru of houses we missed last night tonight. Kiddo works to 11 pm so will see how she feels after-I’ll go alone (yes we are not supposed to Go Alone ) for a bit.
Also other than Monsters EP line the rest of the EP lines were well below the 50% of regular line (example: standby 50 minutes usually EP was 15 or less. Monsters we waited 25 when Standby was 45-so still not bad)

We went last night also and I thought going in dead mans pier was going to be my favorite, but last night my universal monster walkthrough was fantastic. The dracula scare actor was great. Scarezones are amazing. Tried some of the food. The tamale was great as was the fiery queso twisted tater. Food lines were not bad at all.

 

[keishashadow]

Yes if EP not sold out for the day. Not sure if after 10 or after 11 though with every night open to 2 am

PIc posted of first night’s sign said 11 pm

 

[djmeredith]

Interesting to hear the love for Monsters. All 3 of us rated it near the bottom of the list.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Interesting to hear the love for Monsters. All 3 of us rated it near the bottom of the list.

Did you go to any of the past 2 Classic Monster themed houses? Wonder where you rated those if you did

 

[Robo56]

Attended HHN this evening. Rain early in the evening then rain tapered off by about 8 pm and the evening was so pleasant with a gentle breeze. I will have to say it was one of the most pleasant evenings I can remember this time of year for HHN. Houses were pretty much walk on early in the evening when it was raining. After rain stopped became more busy.

If you didn’t have EP this would have been your night.

I would have to say I enjoyed Dead Man’s Pier: Winters Wake The best so far.

 

[lisam70]

Had anyone had any luck getting into Finnegans 3-330 without reservation? Just for two people.
Also, which house have the longest/farthest ques? My plantar fasciitis has decided to act up so I’m looking for which ones I may need to skip if I’m struggling.

 

[ShadeDK]

Also, which house have the longest/farthest ques?

A rough estimate of the queues (entrance and exit combined) from shortest to longest:
-Blumhouse (no exit queue - you’re right back in the park when you step out of the house)
-Hellblock Horror
-Spirits of the Coven
-Descendants of Destruction
-Halloween
-Chupacabra
-Dead Mans Pier
-Bugs
-Universal Monsters
-Weeknd

The houses that share an exit queue are: Hellblock/Halloween/Coven, Pier/Chupacabra, Descendants/Bugs and Weeknd/Monsters.

Length of entrance queues can vary quite a bit depending on how they have the queues configured and how many switchbacks they have open.

I think most would agree that Monsters and Weeknd are the worst - it’s a long walk out and a long walk back.

 

[lisam70]

A rough estimate of the queues (entrance and exit combined) from shortest to longest:
-Blumhouse (no exit queue - you’re right back in the park when you step out of the house)
-Hellblock Horror
-Spirits of the Coven
-Descendants of Destruction
-Halloween
-Chupacabra
-Dead Mans Pier
-Bugs
-Universal Monsters
-Weeknd

The houses that share an exit queue are: Hellblock/Halloween/Coven, Pier/Chupacabra, Descendants/Bugs and Weeknd/Monsters.

Length of entrance queues can vary quite a bit depending on how they have the queues configured and how many switchbacks they have open.

I think most would agree that Monsters and Weeknd are the worst - it’s a long walk out and a long walk back.

Thank you !!

 

[djmeredith]

Did you go to any of the past 2 Classic Monster themed houses? Wonder where you rated those if you did

No, this was our first HHN.

 

[macraven]

HHN virgins usually the event and get hooked to return again…

 

[keishashadow]

Had anyone had any luck getting into Finnegans 3-330 without reservation? Just for two people.
Also, which house have the longest/farthest ques? My plantar fasciitis has decided to act up so I’m looking for which ones I may need to skip if I’m struggling.

If you show up a half hour earlire than you want to eat, should be fine. Problem is many decide to eat around 3 or 4 pm & decide to hold down the tables until crowd is released.

HHN virgins usually the event and get hooked to return again…

To quote muppets’ 3-D…”they’re tourists, what do they know”

In all seriousness, have yet to meet a haunt fan that who wasn’t wow’d by their first visit. Then, we all morph into critics lol

 

[Ta.Ham1989]

Based on the limited data so far, it seems like the NY S&S location is the optimal one? Are there any other suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[Ta.Ham1989]

If you show up a half hour earlire than you want to eat, should be fine. Problem is many decide to eat around 3 or 4 pm & decide to hold down the tables until crowd is released.



To quote muppets’ 3-D…”they’re tourists, what do they know”

In all seriousness, have yet to meet a haunt fan that who wasn’t wow’d by their first visit. Then, we all morph into critics lol

Depends on if you have Express. Bugs is long haul and Hellblock is as well.

 

[Ta.Ham1989]

I have commented on some others posts but thought I'd make a separate post. This was given to me by a team member. It shows times that houses open. Makes it easier to plan for S&S.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

No, this was our first HHN.

Thanks. Curious where they rank compared to those

I’m trying to avoid reading too many reviews till we go

 

[Mrs.AMC]

HHN virgins usually the event and get hooked to return again…

That’s for sure
we even decided last night to book a one night trip just to go back down on Halloween night. it’s what we chose for our Southwest flight to earn the free companion ticket

 

[paopiru]

This is a mini trip report of our first full night report - no spoilers. This was our second night - 9/4 (Sunday of opening/Labor Day weekend). It was the first full night for us, and it did not start out like I had planned. I appreciated @OhioStateBuckeye giving a report as a veteran because our stay and scream experience was not at all what I was expecting because the times jumped so quickly. Our plan was to do Monsters and then Weeknd with low waits and then maybe even get in 1 or 2 more while times were short. That definitely did not happen because times jumped fast.

As i posted earlier, we chose to get in the Central Park SS area and chose the Monsters line instead of Weeknd because it was shorter. I am not positive, but I think there was a very large number of people in that line. They walked that line back to the switchback waiting area around 5:15 and then a new line formed in Central Park. I left my nephews in line and walked over to Springfield food court to get a refill. The food lines were short and there were very few people waiting in there. The drink/refill line had a little bit of a line, but not too bad.

Right around 5:45 they started walking us back. The reports about long walks to/from the houses still did not prepare me for how long some of them are. We did Monsters with about a 5 minute wait. Our plan was to do Monsters and then Weeknd with low wait times and then go back and do them again with our EPs. That didn't happen because Weeknd was already at 50 minutes when we got out of Monsters. It probably opened at 50 minutes based on what we saw of the line. Halloween was another one we hoped to do with a short wait, but it was also a long wait right away.

Bugs was only a 5 minute wait so we headed there. Standby was more like 15 minutes. We did MIB while it stormed. Then we did Descendants using our EP. It was basically a walk on. We all liked it, great theming. It was still early so we took a break that lasted about 45 minutes (well, my nephews rested while I stood in the ridiculously slow pizza fries line for 30 minutes). We did the Weeknd when it said Standby was 50 and EP took about 10 mins. We all liked it. We had dinner at Mel's, rode Transformers with no wait and then did Blumhouse for the second time. Standby said 50 mins and EP took 45-50 mins. As previously mentioned, they were clearly having problems getting the EP line through.

Mummy was 45 mins with no EP line available so we skipped it. We got in the EP line for Chupacabra. I think standby said 45 and EP took about 20. We came out and got in the Deadman's Pier standby line. It had dropped from 50 to 40 while we did Chupacabra. The EP took about 20. We got in the Halloween line when it said 50 and it took us about 15 in EP. We finished there at 1:00 and called it a night.

I was worried that I wouldn't enjoy the houses because I am a scaredy cat, but after the first house I enjoyed each one more and more. We are now big fans of HHN. As many of you have said, our first one will probably not be our last. We are already planning a return trip with the rest of our family next year.

Do you know if Gringotts is opened until midnight¿

 

[djmeredith]

Do you know if Gringotts is opened until midnight¿

I am not sure. I know the other rides were open really late because we did Transformers pretty late, and the boys were going to ride RRR around 1:00 (but they had already used their Fast Pass and didn't want to wait).