The *OFFICIAL* HHN Review Thread

[the Dark Marauder]

That wasn't me, that was my shadow.

 

[JLTraveling]

Sunday night was great! I've been playing Legendary Truth (the game within the event), but there were no game events on Sunday, so I got to walk around and get everything done again. Thankfully, I go with my Dad, who gets two disabled express passes....standby waits were upwards of 75 minutes, with RoF at 120 min for most of the night! Craziness! We did stay and scream, though we were still at Finnegan's when s&s was released, and we (barely) had time for seven houses, all the scarezones and all three shows, since we had express.

I got a wonderful tag team scare in Streets of Blood. Dad uses an ECV, and he was slightly ahead of me. I was looking to my left watching some girl get scared. Suddenly a scareactor growled "Look where you're going!" That made me take a step forward, just in time to run into the back of Dad's scooter (he had stopped unexpectedly). Another scareactor on my left took advantage of my distraction to growl in my other ear. I'm very hard to scare, so I give those guys props!

I accidentally contributed to Dad (even harder to scare than I am) being scared in Interstellar Terror. As we entered, I was trying to point out Bloody Mary's appearance in the television static. I got him completely focused on the monitors, giving the perfect opportunity to a scareactor hiding beside the door. It was awesome to see Dad jump a mile!

Still not feeling the love for Dead Exposure. It's just way too repetitive for me. But I'm starting to develop appreciation for it as a concept house. I just wish there was something to break up the house a little.

The inflatable walls were sort of working when we walked through RoF...the wall on the left in one hallway was inflated, and the wall on the right in the other. It definitely enhances the house, but I still think this one could have been so much more.

I love the Zombie drill team, and tend to spend way too much time watching them work. Of the "official" scare zones, I think Path of the Wicked is my fav, though I'm loving them all this year.

They're still adding elements to Bill and Ted, Sarah Palin's role keeps getting bigger and bigger. I think all three shows are really worth the time.

I'll be there tomorrow to enjoy the event again, then Legendary Truth picks back up on Thursday. Anyone else playing?

 

[jag90]

Thanks for the info. Can I call and get the single ep's ahead of time, or do I need to stand in line at guest svcs night of? I'm kicking myself for not buying them earlier in the month when we 1st thought about going.

If I can't get the single ep's is it going to be worth it for us to go? I don't mind the crowds, but just don't want ot spend the whole night waiting in queue lines.

 

[macraven]

I went to HHN on oct 9-10-11-12

some nights the houses were better than other nights.
i was about to write off the Creature house as my least favorite but quickly changed my mind after i went thru saturday night.
that house was hyped that time around.

i dread doing a report and listing the houses that I thought were great and the ones that missed the mark. Depending on the team that was in the house when i went thru either made that house fantastic or just okay.

i wouldn't want to give any reader a false sense of a certain house not meeting expectations as they changed so much over the 4 days i was there.

i did my best to time it to catch both team A and B each night. the team that opened the house would be on set for 45 minutes and then the other team would take over while the first team had their break. Then the schedule would be repeated. i was able to time it well enough to see both teams in action for most of the houses.
i could really tell the difference in the houses on some of the teams.

i do have to say that Team A did wow me on intersellular house. Team B missed the mark in my opinion for me.

the only house that consistantly disappointed me was Reflections of Fear. i know some of you posters received more pleasure in this one than i did.
the Marys there didn't have much interaction when i went through them.

when the "congo" lines formed later in the evening for houses, it was difficult for the scareactors to get some scares that they were able to do prior when the lines were not backed up.

i don't scare in the houses but really do get a kick of how dedicated and determined some are to scare the bejesus out of the guests.


i enjoy what everyone has shared here.
i can relate to what some of you experienced in thought for the houses.

if i had to do a report on my nights at hhn, it would be a novel as i would have to do each night separately.

i do have to say that the scare zones were fantastic this year!
i enjoyed them all.

 

[jag90]

OK, last question I promise. There is also the option of adding the 3 hr IOA ticket to the HHN ticket. This will get us access from IOA. Is this worth doing? Will it get us early access like S&S? Can't find any option for S&S except full price US tix. Not really what we want to do.

Thanks
Buddy

 

[Jason71]

OK, last question I promise. There is also the option of adding the 3 hr IOA ticket to the HHN ticket. This will get us access from IOA. Is this worth doing? Will it get us early access like S&S? Can't find any option for S&S except full price US tix. Not really what we want to do.

Thanks
Buddy

You get a variation on stay and scream. Starting at around 5:45, you can walk over from Suess Landing (behind One Fish, Two Fish) to the Studios, and get in through a side gate. About a 3-5 minute walk and still have to go through metal detectors and such, so it's not quite the head start that S&S at the Studios is, but you can still usually do a house or two before the masses arrive through the front gate. A lot less of a cluster, too.

 

[zalansky]

I won two tickets to HHN through my cable company last week! We're going the 26th and I see the passes to skip the lines are already sold out. Oh well, we're going for free! Thanks everyone for the great reviews.

 

[Henna's_Mom]

Sorry I missed you last night. I went to dinner at Finnegan's with Keishashadow and family. By the time we were finished talking and eating it was 6pm and the holding area was released.

No worries, we'll try again next year.

 

[stargrazer]

What a great meet! We had lots of fun hanging out with DISers till 10:30ish, then struck out on our own till midnight. We bought the single EPs, which I didn't even know existed (and which many of the people in guest services don't know exist either...I won't even go into that confusion). They were $5 each, and you can buy as many as you want and use 'em on any house. Better than EP where it's each house only once, so of course we focused on faves like Dead Exposure. I don't know how often they offer those EPs, but they were great.... :clip:

Can anyone tell me if they are still offering these single EP's thru guest services? And if they get confused, who do I tell them to ask? I've been once on the EP with a friend of mine, but my DD12 finally worked up her courage and is going for the first time, but is really nervous. I think she's going to try for two houses - Interstellar (b/c it's not too intense) and maybe Scary Tales. I don't want to EP $70 each for two houses, so this option would be perfect!

Anyone? Anyone?? Thanks for any help!!!

~~~~
Diana

 

[inkkognito]

Can anyone tell me if they are still offering these single EP's thru guest services? And if they get confused, who do I tell them to ask? I've been once on the EP with a friend of mine, but my DD12 finally worked up her courage and is going for the first time, but is really nervous. I think she's going to try for two houses - Interstellar (b/c it's not too intense) and maybe Scary Tales. I don't want to EP $70 each for two houses, so this option would be perfect!

Don't even ask Guest Services. Instead, as you are facing the inside Guest Services, look for a place on your left with a big Express Pass sign. Go in there as they sell 'em in there and know all the options. On a $79 night I'm guessing the single-house passes might be $10 since we bought ours on a $39 night. How that it's later in the season they might not have 'em at all, but it never hurts to check it out.

 

[stargrazer]

Thank you SO MUCH for this info!!!

~~~~
Diana

 

[girli565]

Ok so weather.com has been saying 90% chance of rain for the last 3 days for tomorrow, will HHN be ruined if it rains?

 

[macraven]

Ok so weather.com has been saying 90% chance of rain for the last 3 days for tomorrow, will HHN be ruined if it rains?

i have done quite a few years of HHN in the rain.
remember the hurricane a couple of years back?
and last year's downpours in october.....

you said the prediction is 90% of rain, it might be a drizzle, downpour or blow over off and on during the evening. weather is difficult to predict. it could be dry the entire evening.

i dread the days that rain is predicted as i can't take in all the sights there when it storms and the winds blow.
i cross my fingers a lot that Mr Weather Man is wrong......


the street scare actors will not be chasing anyone when it rains.
too dangerous, could slip and slide and fall down.....

some street actors will not be out in full force in some of the zones but that is really not an issue. you can't expect an actor on stilts to walk around in heavy rain.

take a poncho if you don't like to walk around drenched if you have a downpour. (or bring a small umbrella)
wear shoes that won't blister your feet when they get wet.

if is possible to stay dry clothing wise but the feet will be hitting puddles of water no matter what when it rains.

the HHN event goes on in rain or dry weather.
HHN is not canceled for rain.
Hurricanes could be another issue....

i found that when it rains hard, people stay away from the parks if they haven't started out to it at that point. or they might come later in the evening when the rain tapers off.

either way, the rain does effect the crowds on some nights. those that are in the park when it rains, continue to do the houses.

i prefer no rain at all when i go to HHN.
i hate getting wet and walking around all night in wet shoes and socks.
when the rain stops, my feet still stay wet all evening.

i would not stay away from HHN due to the rain, even if it is a downpour.


the show will still go on...........

 

[inkkognito]

We're sitting here monitoring the weather as we hope to do HHN tonight and we already bought EPs so it will be painful to eat 'em if we don't go. The weathermen are predicting gloom and doom but the radar is iffy as to weather anything will be over USF, so who knows. I'm not big on standing in lines in the humidity in a plastic poncho in the rain...ugh! So far this year the only time we've had bad weather was literally at park closing (midnight) one night. We donned ponchoes and hustled off to Nascar where we had a really late dinner...by the time we were done, the rain was thankfully gone. Today is still undecided but I hope it holds off 'cause I'm at an HHN deficit due to the fact that we've been on a Disney cruise for the past four days.

 

[girli565]

i have done quite a few years of HHN in the rain.
remember the hurricane a couple of years back?
and last year's downpours in october.....

you said the prediction is 90% of rain, it might be a drizzle, downpour or blow over off and on during the evening. weather is difficult to predict. it could be dry the entire evening.

i dread the days that rain is predicted as i can't take in all the sights there when it storms and the winds blow.
i cross my fingers a lot that Mr Weather Man is wrong......


the street scare actors will not be chasing anyone when it rains.
too dangerous, could slip and slide and fall down.....

some street actors will not be out in full force in some of the zones but that is really not an issue. you can't expect an actor on stilts to walk around in heavy rain.

take a poncho if you don't like to walk around drenched if you have a downpour. (or bring a small umbrella)
wear shoes that won't blister your feet when they get wet.

if is possible to stay dry clothing wise but the feet will be hitting puddles of water no matter what when it rains.

the HHN event goes on in rain or dry weather.
HHN is not canceled for rain.
Hurricanes could be another issue....

i found that when it rains hard, people stay away from the parks if they haven't started out to it at that point. or they might come later in the evening when the rain tapers off.

either way, the rain does effect the crowds on some nights. those that are in the park when it rains, continue to do the houses.

i prefer no rain at all when i go to HHN.
i hate getting wet and walking around all night in wet shoes and socks.
when the rain stops, my feet still stay wet all evening.

i would not stay away from HHN due to the rain, even if it is a downpour.


the show will still go on...........

I'm from Miami, so I know FL weather but I still HATE rain. I usually bring a poncho so I'll have those with me. I was just wondering if the zones and other outdoor events would be different. I have family down from NY and they drove up with us last weekend when we went to MNSSHP and they laughed at how it rains for a mile and then stops the next mile. I told them that's FL weather. It was raining at the entrance to my complex once and when I got to my apartment it wasn't... FL weather.

Well if the scareactors won't be out in full force a little rain might not be a bad thing. I DREAD HHN, but the DFi has never been so I have to suck it up for one more year.

 

[the Dark Marauder]

I went tonight for a bit with my dad. We noticed the scarezones seemed a bit "light" on scareactors today. However, a few awesome things did happen:

-I met some scareactors for a scarezone out of costume, as they were going on Body Collectors and later Creatures. They told me to say hi to them on their set. There were two attractive females, so that helps. Plus the shirt I was wearing made me Easy-to-spot.

-While walking through Creatures, I saw Bloody Mary appear in the static of the TV!

-In Body Collectors, I told one collector "DO IT! DO IT!" He pointed at me, nodded, and ripped the girl's spine out.

-In Asylum in Wonderland, the White Rabbit scared me, yet made a reference to my shirt. Also, one of the guys with a feather duster made another reference. I chatted with him, playfully--he stayed in character, and I told him "scare well, good sir". It was pretty funny.

-Bill & Ted show....MAJOR SPOILER!!!!!!!!!


Sarah Palin and Barack Obama come out during the final dance numbers and they're all over each other. Palin's character also gets "hit on" by many in the dance sequences.

Also, I realized I personally know (or at least I'm 99% sure) the guy who plays Speed Racer. It only took me *this long* to realize it.

-I met the scareactors again, in character. I chatted with them ever-so-briefly as they do have to work/scare. But it's cool. I may have to pay the ladies a visit tomorrow during their set.

 

[inkkognito]

Just got home from a quickie visit (stay & scream till 10:00 p.m.). We got there early enough to do a couple rides on MiB, then headed to Finnegans for dinner. We got a LOT done, i.e. two of the soundstage houses, then hustled to Scary Tales and Mary before the lines got out of control. We were very glad of our EPs, especially with the rain moving in. There were off and on sprinkles but we had our ponchoes so it wasn't too bad. We got to do several of the houses twice, i.e. did everything once with the EPs plus the stuff we managed to get through early on.

The houses all had some good scares although we did notice what seemed to be gaps in some of them. Dead Exposure was really off the one time we did it (line was too long so we only got to do it with EP). That was compounded by the fact that I had an obnoxious jerk behind me who ran into me so much that i think he was doing it on purpose. First I tried crossing my hands behind me with my thumbs sticking out roughly at crotch level. After getting poked a couple times, he backed up then started up again. I literally got to the point where I was kicking backwards to ward him off because he was actually pushing me. I was thisclose to alerting one of the security guards in the house but I knew that would mean lots of time and paperwork...would have been well worth it if we weren't trying to beat the rain. I think he suspected I was going to complain when we left the house because he didn't come out right after us and stayed FAR behind us walking down the exit.

Other than that, everything was great. The scare zones didn't get started till later, probably due to the threat of rain, but once they were going it was really good. I had to go see the zombie drill team, and of course I got chased by chainsaw wielding maniacs and body collectors. The best one was a scareactor who started singing "It sucks to be you" to me (I was wearing an Avenue Q t-shirt and he obviously knew the soundtrack!).

I got picked on in a couple of the houses for carrying a Gingey (from Shrek) that I had won. The best was in Body Collectors when one of the scareactors literally tried to steal it!

The walls in Mary were only working the first time around...sigh! We could see gaps in many of the others too but it didn't have too much of an impact on our enjoyment. I would have lobbied hubby to stay longer, except for three reasons: The line lengths, the intermittent rain, and the fact that my feet were killing me because I wore flipflops due to not wanting to ruin my good shoes in the rain.

We had drinks before leaving...sure wish they would offer the signature Mary drink without having to buy the light-up glass because we have quite a big collection now.

Back to HHN on Sun. unless they add FF tomorrow (yeah, I'm a dreamer).

 

[macraven]

great review darkie!

the only problem i have in doing HHN the 3rd week is the changes that happen at bill and teds.

they adjust the scripts all the time.
i hear about the changes once i am back home.

i think the bill and teds show is kewl.
this year wasn't the highlight show for me but still good enough that i did it once each night there.


darkie, don't tell me, you wore the BTTF shirt tonight.....

 

[the Dark Marauder]

I found out that the Palin/Obama thing was caused by a sheer fluke/last-minute improv decision a few nights ago. It got such a positive reaction that they kept it.

And the BTTF shirt *may* appear when I go on Sunday. Tonight it was Thundercats.

 

[AdrenalineAddict]

This year was my first HHN experience, and I loved it. Although I found some houses to bee too dark, notably 'The Body Collectors'. There were some great scenes, like the girl and the spine (I won't spoil it for people who are going down, but beleive me you will be amazed), but throughout most of the house, we were concerned with trying to figure out where to go (we could baely see the path), and we didn't see all the supposed limbs hanging from the walls. The greatest fault with this lighting choice was you could not see the scare actors...which is important for making a scare.

The best out of the five houses we went to was 'Dead Exposure'. It had a combinaiton of UV and strobe lights, and the one room with seemingy HUNDREDS of these 'zombies' (I'm still not sure how many were scare actors) was amazing. 'Reflections of Fear' was also well done. It was still a bit dark, but you could see the scenes a lot better than in some, and they really pulled off the atmosphere well. 'Doomsday' was a hit or miss with some based on comments I heard when we left the house. 'Creatures' I could have done without. It was tame to me...and, well, I didn't find it very scary. The story of comic book creatures attacking its 'backwoods inhabitants' wasn't pulled off. I didn't see anything remotely resembling it...not even the supposed creatures.

The scarezones were the best, but it was really windy so you could see the actors through the fog, but overall the scenery, costumes, and makeup were awesome.

I was really turned off by some of the overzealous scare actors...namely, one screaming bloody murder in my ear and the other blowing spittle onto my neck. I found it uncalled for I was turned off on the whole thing after that.

Overall, it was great. Next year, Universal will need to fix their lighting to get a good combination of being able to see and having it still be frightening. If they fix that I'd go back down for it. Definatly.