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It had to be around 8:30ish because we had just come out of Finnegan's, and it was right at the Sting Alley entrance/exit on the lagoon side. I can't even describe the scareactor because I got such a scare that it didn't even register. Just jumped and screamed!

For those wondering whether Express is still worth it, I'll say that if the standby lines continue to get longer this year, I'll still be glad I popped the bucks for Express. I got spoiled in past years, but if you never did Express before, you wouldn't even know it (although we did hear a lot of complaints from people around us. and I did mention it in my exit survey). The only way I wouldn't buy Express is if I did Stay & Scream and followed the pattern to hit most of the houses early, before they get lines. Yesterday we did Horror and the sprungs, Walking Dead twice, and one of the soundstages before we needed Express. That's five houses/six walk-throughs, so it would only leave you two more where you might have a long wait. We started with Horror and Alice, ran over to Walking Dead, came back to Penn & Teller (which was just opening...it's one of the late openers), and then did Dead End. I think that's the pattern we'll stick to when we do the Kid Zone holding pen.

What about the Amscot guy? (I figure that's not a spoiler cuz it's not like he's a star). For some reason, that got a rise out of me. They needed the Appliance Direct guy too. The locals would be laughing and everyone else would be like WTF?

Yeah, I think Express is going to be a cluster all year because of being one house down. If they sell the same number of Express passes with one house down, that screws things up already. Then, as you say, the queues for the houses are longer this year because it's the same crowd with one crowd-drawer missing, so that also makes it longer. I can't believe those queues and the walks to get to and from the houses this year. It's like some sort of hellish enforced exercise plan.

Normally the Disaster queue house isn't too good in the daytime because of the light that gets in, but this year I have to say I actually like Walking Dead better in the daytime! It's my favorite house overall, and being able to see some of the Walkers before the attacks actually added to the experience for me. I've done it twice in the light and twice after dark, and I love seeing the sets and scareactors as they run me ragged with their aggression. I noticed the same thing with House of Horrors. Everyone keeps saying it's like Dead Exposure, but the first time I went through it was at night and I wasn't disoriented at all. Went through it during the day yesterday and didn't know whether I was coming or going. Did it at night, and once again the lighting was "meh," although the house itself is fantastic (my second fave this year). I think it's a combination of my transition lenses being still dark, coupled with generally going from blazing daylight to pitch dark and strobes.

We got Frequent Fear Plus With Express as usual this year, but the express lines were the longest I've ever seen them. I think Uiversal is still selling the same number of passes despite the fact that they're down one house. We didn't start using Express until later in the evening because we do Stay & Scream and know our pattern, so we knocked out five of the houses in the regular lines and managed to to Walking Dead twice. Then we switched to Express and the lines were a good 15 to 25 mins. First time I've ever seen that consistently. Normally it's just the houses near Bill & Ted when it lets out. Sure hope they cut down on the number of Express passes sold at some point. I know even half an hour isn't bad when the standby line is 75 to 90 mins. but they've gotten me too spoiled in years past with 5 to 10 mins. max.

Thursday was an awesome night! First set of House of Horror ran me ragged. I literally walked out hunched in a little ball in that end room because of the attacks from every angle. Same thing for first set of the night in Walking Dead. This is my favorite house of the season (Horror is second) becajuse of the sheer viciousness and aggression. It reminds me of the level of Havoc. I wasn't thrilled with the streets on opening night, but y'all won me over last night. Loved the scareactors at the windows of Finnegans and the one who came in and rampaged around a bit. Over in Hollywood, my Krusty doll was maltreated most delightfully. A reaper handed him over to a trick or treater who wanted to eat him, and he was also accosted by a pumpkin head. The chainsaw prisioners were nicely vicious. But my biggest kudo of the night is for what will probably be my best scare of the season. We went through Sting Alley, starting on the Hollywood side. Hubby and I were debating on whether there were any scareactors in there. We didn't see any, and right at the end I turned and told him, "See, there's no one in here. The very next second, I had the crap scared out of me by one who jumped out right before the end." Well played.

But don't they remove the assclowns they see doing things like this? I've seen people pulled aside by Ops for touching scareactors, among other things. I'm guessing that's why this jerk specifically chose a room without an Ops person to do what they did.

They're walking a pretty fine line by bugging people with legitimate medication. They could find themselves in an assload of ADA trouble if they denied someone with a disability the right to bring their meds into the park. If it was that sort of thing, I would definitely ask for a supervisor and calmly and politely explain that it's a medical necessity for a disabling condition and that they legally must accommodate me. If they refused, I would tape that interaction with my cell phone and pointedly ask for a name and explain that I'd be making an ADA complaint.

I say "Oh my God!" and crouch down, depending on the direction of the scare, and if they trap me, I tend to wimper.

No defense needed, at least not to me. The hubs and I were just talking about how all the scareactors must now be nursing their bruises, bumps, and other post-HHN injuries. I actually saw a drunk hit a SA in the head in one house for no reason, and of course when Ops was not around. I blame Uni rather than the SAs for making physically demanding, long to reset (although very cool) effects.

I wonder if it was the same one who trapped me and demanded to know the name of my little stuffed penguin because he was going to cut its face off. I finally made up a name and he accused me of being a liar but let me go because it was his favorite. There I am trapped, with all this going on, and my husband is all the way past Mel's Die In without even realizing I'm not behind him!

Was pretty cool to see Poe in the Virginia room downstairs in the portrait room instead of up by the painting last night.

I thought it was going to be lackluster last night, but we went through and I saw a soldier in one of the hammocks. That threw me, since I haven't seen anyone in those since the beginning of the season. So I'm gaping at him, and he suddenly attacks, Yikes! Didn't see the rip, as usual, but that was a good scare because it was so unexpected.

Wasn't sure I was going to make it out alive last night. Always scary to get trapped and called out by name, but I managed to escape the Machine. Saws & Steam, I miss you already. Definitely my top 2011 house.

We went in after the closure and everything looked fine (Thing and Nightingales were closed down for a while too). It was sad to say goodbye to H.R. I'll miss our nightly visits.

I was thinking the same thing when reading the OP. Cast A Forsaken is one of my favorites this year; it's hard to imagine them "not trying." I guess anything can happen on any particular night, but I'm sad the OP didn't get to see the usual glory that is Forsaken Cast A (we tend to see them a lot since we do Kid Zone S & S a lot).

We've been through this house an average of twice per night, and I think we've only missed two FF+ nights, yet I've only seen the rip twice. We usually end up with the lackluster cast too, although I'm not sure if it's A or B. I should have noticed earlier in the year so we could have timed it for the more active one; I've gotten some good scares from them. But I really wish Uni would not do timing scares that take so damn long to reset. I remember thinking Wolfman sucked for a long time till I caught the two great-but-forever-to-reset bits.

Okay, this is gonna be hard because there really isn't any house I dislike. It's just a matter of liking some more than others. Here we go: 1) Saws & Steam, for all the times I've been terrorized out of my mind in it. 2) The Forsaken, another terrorizing gem 3) Nevermore, perfect blend of scares and set design 4) The In Between, for its acid trip quality and aggressiveness 5) Holidays of Horror, love H. R. 6) Winter's Night, hit or miss but great scares when it's "on" 7) The Thing, great house but so dependent on timing 8) Nightingales, mainly last because I always seem to have bad timing in this one

^This. I can't believe just how great his house turned out to be and how well the scareactors use that space. You'd think with the lighted eyes and so much openness it would be void of scares, but they run me ragged in there. We usually go through on Team A, although B is very good too...we just don't see them as much. I love a house where the same scareactor can get so many scares out of the same person. I've watched it done and had it happen to me many, many times. My husband just loves that final scare. I swear the man stands there and waits for it if he can avoid getting trampled by the conga behind him when doing so.

To paraphrase what Dorothy said to the scarecrow in the end of "Wizard of Oz," "Saws & Steam, you're the house I'm going to miss most." I've had some great walk-throughs, but yesterday was the best. The vicious triple teaming I got halfway through got me so terrified and disoriented that I nearly walked into a wall, even though I know that house so well I could walk it blindfolded. Of course, that just earned me more abuse. That was on Team A...went back on B and got trapped in a corner by the chainsaw. I'm crouching there, nearly on my knees, while my husband blissfully continues and is nearly at the end of the house when they finally release me and I manage to stagger off and catch up to him. I haven't experienced abuse like that since Doomsday, when I got chased through nearly the entire damn house on the last night.

At the beginning of the season I never would have dreamed I'd be saying this, but I'm gonna miss this house. We tend to go through on Cast A, and I'm really going to miss our chats with H R. He always knows HNN shirts but he recognized my Vault shirt last night too. Damn presidents are vicious, leprechauns are vicious, and one of the elves even got me a few days ago because I was staring up at the ceiling ("Oh, wow, you can see the Disaster sign outside...DAMN!").

Such a wonderful year. So sad to see it coming to an end. I know I'm forgetting some shout outs, but here are just a few: Saws & Steam, you are my absolute favorite this year. Between Casts A and B, I've been terrorized in more ways than I can count. I've been through that house so many times that I should know my way with my eyes closed, yet I received such a vicious triple-teaming yesterday on A that nearly walked into a wall when they finally let me go, and was of course verbally abused for that. Then the saw in B inside the house nearly had me down on my knees. I'm going to miss the viciousness in Forsaken, too, especially Cast A, and all the nice chats with Cast A H. R. Bloodengutz. I've had a lot of terror in The In Between, too. Is it my imagination, or have the gotten more and more aggressive as time goes on? That finale is killer. Poe, too...great finale, and it's rare that I go through there without a Virginia attack. Just sitting here hoping the rain stops so I can get terrorized by y'all one last time.

Things that make you go WTF: Hubby and I did Stay & Scream yesterday (as usual) and there was no one behind us in the queue so we decided to wait outside for a while, since there was a conga line in front of us. We stepped aside and waited near the entrance, and the Ops person said, "You can go in now." I said, "We're just waiting a little while." She said, "You don't want to go in?" and I replied, "No, we're just waiting for the big crowd to get through, since there's no one else coming" Then it dawned on her and she said, "You want to go through ALONE?!" Uh, no, I just love shuffling through with the rest of the cattle, missing half the scares, and quite possibly getting trampled. Busch Gardens charges $40 for the privilege of going through a house yourself, so damn straight I'm gonna take the chance when I can get it for free.

It's sad to see them break with tradition, but I guess that just means it's off to Tampa tomorrow for me. I never go by what Guest Services says. I also cringe when I'm in a Stay & Scream holding pen & hear the team members giving totally bad advice on the house opening times and correct pattern to follow to do them efficiently. Oh well, I should actually be glad of that because it keeps the crowds away from those of us who know the right times and way to do it.