pehyde

There's a picture related to the tweet that shows a radioactive buffet of lobsters. I think them saying no rabbits is just a reference to magicians using rabbits in their acts, so I doubt it, but definitely could be wrong.

I've just been looking at some of the random pictures Dr. Jimmy's been posting and they definitely have a cemetery theme to them. Could this mean our Victorian house is set in a cemetery? Or possibly another Doctor Who "Blink" reference with the Gargoyle house being statues in the cemetery?

Do you really think the tank might be there? I know they take liberties, but the hospital isn't in Atlanta in The Walking Dead. I thought ideally that we would enter the hospital and transition to Atlanta in the house with a street scene with a tank (of course that might be tough in the Disaster queue). We have had a vehicle in front of the Disaster house the past couple of years though, right? So I guess I wouldn't be surprised to see the tank. Haha, even though I loved that house so much, I'm glad this won't happen.

These are in chronological order instead of purely top 10. As a note, I've been going since '06 when I only went through 2 houses, and have done all of the houses besides Reflections of Fear since that year. PsychoScareapy: Maximum Madness (2006) A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Walkers (2007) Dead Silence: The Curse of Mary Shaw (2007) Dead Exposure (2008) Scary Tales: Once Upon a Nightmare (2008) Silver Screams (2009) Hades: The Gates of Ruin (2010) Winter's Night: The Haunting of Hawthorn Cemetery (2011) Nevermore: The Madness of Poe (2011) The Forsaken (2011) Every year my memories of houses change so that's why I didn't give an order, but A Nightmare on Elm Street, Dead Silence and now Winter's Night are pretty much my top 3.

I totally agree with this. It wasn't my favorite house or anything, but I definitely enjoyed it and went through it multiple times in the one night I went that year. People seemed to hate it because they compared it to the original Castle Vampyr I think, but I never went through that house, so I can't compare them, I just know I had fun everytime in the house.

Yes, you have to beat both the multiplayer games and the single player games to get the full tokens. I think the single player games are available to play from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm to give you a chance to beat it.

Thanks everyone, I was kind of worried that no one would bother to read it when I got a little long winded there. I really wanted to go into detail though since it will help me better remember the event. Glad you all enjoyed it.

I normally laugh after I've gotten scared in houses especially if the scare made me jump backwards or something close. This year I had a few audible curses when they got me though, especially with unexpected scares.

Yep, I went through Nightingales at least when it was pouring rain outside and did the Mummy, so that was at least open. And Holidays of Horror was opened while it was still raining a little bit Friday. So if you brave the rain you can do a lot of things while people are waiting it out inside.

This is a review of my Opening Night (9/23) experience. It contains spoilers for those worried so wanted to warn just in case. So this year for the first time ever (or since 2006 when I first got to go to HHN) I decided to go to Halloween Horror NIghts more than one night. With my brother's girlfriend and assorted other friends only able to go on October 21, we were worried about being able to see all of the houses. So we decided that opening night would be a great time to go as well and we dragged our friend Rachel with us. For background my brother is 6'3" but still gets scared even when girls half his size surprise him at the event, while Rachel is pretty jumpy so is amusing to go around with. For this reason, in all of the houses I went first, followed by Rachel who likes to be surrounded so people can't sneak up on her. She and I both have annual passes so we decided to do the AP event to get in the park at 5. We got to Universal at 5, and after picking up our tickets at will call and getting our wristbands we were in the parks by 5:15. I really applaud the workers doing the wristbands since it was a long line when we got into it, but they were really organized and got through quickly. We headed directly towards the Kidzone and passed through 7 and Grown Evil without scareactors. Grown Evil looked amazing even with the light and no fog. But since there was no one to scare us yet we headed to our first house, The Forsaken. The wait said 10 minutes and it was about that long. At the front of the line right before going in we had a small chat with a police woman. She had gone through without scareactors in the house because she is a little jumpy as a night cop, but loved the look of the house. We were even more excited and went into the house. The Forsaken (5:20) This house was beautiful. The sets for the most part were amazing. There weren't many scares in the first couple of rooms, I saw the conquistador in the jail cell but he never tried to scared while we were near. The ghost sailors looked awesome, but I agree with the complaint that it's too easy to see them with the eyes so they can't get many surprise scares. I don't think any of them actually actually scared me, but they definitely got Rachel a few times cause she was pushing me trying to run away so they did their job. The chapel room was awesome and I loved the hurricane going on outside the "windows" here and the ghosts appearing at the windows. I didn't think anything in the house would top that until I got to the courtyard. WOW. It was raining in there, the wind was blowing and the whole scene was so big it almost made me forget I was in the parade building. The actors in here were good and played it well so that you couldn't tell which ones were real until they struck for the scare. The final scene on the ship was pretty great, but I could see issues happening here with people walking on the deck. Either way, the actors here had so much energy and were awesome. I had a great time in this house and loved almost every aspect of it even if there were only a few scares. If they could add more actors this could easily be one of the most memorable houses I've been through. We got out of the house and immediately got in line for the In-Between. Now the only 3-D house I had ever been in before this was Jack's Funhouse in Clown-O-Vision. While I enjoyed that house for what it was, it didn't leave me with a good impression of 3-D. For this reason I wasn't very excited about the house, but I was definitely going to give it a fair chance. After about a 15 minute wait we got into the house. The In-Between (5:40) The 3-D here worked better than I expected. It started outside with the facade seeming to pop out at me. The dorm room opening was cool, kinda reminded me of my old dorm room, and the rune game from the website was sitting there open with the runes all glowing. I never get disoriented in the tunnel, but both Rachel and my brother had to shut their eyes and hold on to me to get through it, and the Ops lady was yelling down it to get people to just look at their feet to make it through. I can easily see drunk people getting sick in there. In the rest of the house, it just seemed like the actors were a part of the walls and popped out everywhere. The laser room was awesome and I think I walked through it with my mouth wide open the whole time amazed. And the floorless room was a really cool effect, and the actor right at the beginning had so much energy as we were passing him going for scares at everyone. I loved the dorm room at the end looking possessed by the In-Betweenness but missed the final scare that first time. Either way I left that house with a great impression and loved all of the effects in the house. While we were waiting in line, they were just opening the line for Nevermore so we headed there next. The line was actually formed outside of the queue entrance and the sign said it was a 25 minute wait. While we were in line it started to rain a little bit, but since we were all born and raised in Florida that little amount of rain didn't faze us at the time and we stayed waiting for probably my most anticipated house. I remember in 2nd grade my teacher reading us Masque of the Red Death which terrified me at the time. And in high school we read a ton of Poe and even went to a play series that included The Fall of the House of Usher once, so I was excited and a little apprehensive about scares. The rain was stopping as we entered the house. Nevermore: The Madness of Poe (6:10) I loved the look of the facade, but it seemed like the pages were peeling off already as I could see what looked like foil peeking out, so I hope that won't be a problem later on in the event. The first room set up things nicely and I loved the feeling that we were following him throughout his nightmares, seemingly the same Poe throughout the house. The Tell-Tale Heart room was huge but I think we just missed the scares. I never saw the Red Death in that room, but the dancing actors were jumping out with good timing and got a few people I saw. The ravens were pretty cool looking too. In the Cask of Amontillado room the Poe got a startle out of me by hitting his trowel on the bricks as I passed. I think we just missed something in the finale, because the lights went out as I left the room, but the house was still pretty great. I don't know if I'd wait an hour to see it again, but I definitely hope I get another chance to go through it. By the time we were done they had let people into the park, but were holding them in front of Grown Evil until 6:30 I think. However there were actors in Grown Evil and we walked through it to go towards the soundstages. We were pretty much alone in it and all of the actors came after us despite the lack of fog and it still being light out. The costumes here were beautiful and the actors have their groove already, especially everyone with wings. They were great and I knew we had to see this again when it was dark. We got to the soundstages and got in a 10 minute line for Winter's Night. I told a few people that I was secretly terrified of this house because as a kid I was definitely afraid of death and dead bodies. So I was a little worried that I would end up screaming like a little girl here. However I was hoping to see the Weeping Angel here from my favorite episode of Doctor Who, so I pushed on. Winter's Night: Haunting of Hawthorn Cemetery (6:30) The facade looked amazing and the horse drawn hearse out front was really cool. I loved the snowy effects and it was definitely a good deal colder in here than outside so it gave it a good setting. The Weeping Angel at the beginning looked pretty cool, but scared right in front of us. There was a photographer in the house right after this scene taking pictures of people getting scared, but that didn't distract for too long. Soon I got my first real big scare of the night. There was a scene where you walk past a number of crypts and one looks to be opened with a ladder going underground to a grave with a skeleton. Well I was mesmerized by the scene and when I finally looked back to go forward, there was a bride staring right in my face, making me jump backwards. There was a great scare from above that I didn't expect at all right after this. I loved the look of the groundskeeper's shack in the middle of the house and he popped out from seemingly nowhere right at us. The finale was so open and looked like we were really outside, and I loved looking to the left in the room and spotting Mary Shaw's tombstone from Dead Silence in the corner. This was a really great house and should be experienced by everyone. We left and went towards The Thing. I was hoping to see some of Acid Assault, but no one was there yet and the projections weren't started. So we got in line with a 5 minute wait. I was disappointed with The Thing: Assimilation back in 2007 so I wasn't sure about this one, but with the trailers and sneak peeks of the movie I've seen I was holding out hope especially for the scene where the thing popped out of the ice (even though I had no idea how they could pull that off in the house). The Thing (6:40) The facade here looked great and I loved more snow. The actors here were very intense and sold that they were being attacked by this alien creature. One girl in a room was standing still looking scared until a thing attacked. She had a pistol in her hand which shot at the creature and the sound was really loud and got a small scare from me. I loved how they did the ice block scene and the finale was pretty intense. The sets here were all pretty great, and altogether this was so much better to me than the house in 07. We got into a 15 minute wait for Nightingales next. While in line it started to rain, and as we walked inside it was picking up, so we knew what we had waiting at the end here, but still were ready for the house. Nightingale's Blood Prey (6:55) The trench looked awesome and there was a Nightingale above attacking a soldier almost as soon as we were in the house. I was hoping the war sounds would have been louder in the house, but it still seemed to put us right in the middle of things which was cool. The tent scene was great and had at least one victim reaching out for help that I remember and then the Nightingale walking over the dead bodies got a good scare from me. The finale was cool and the gun shooting air was a nice effect. I hope to be able to do this house again to be able to see the scenes again. As we expected we exited to a downpour. Everyone was congregating under the roofs in the soundstage area, but we realized that it was going to get crowded there quickly so we braved the rain and went to the Mummy. There was absolutely no wait, so we did the ride and the fire and wind actually dried me off slightly which was nice. We realized that the rain couldn't last so we waited it out in the arcade and gift shop area, and just before 8 it slowed enough for us to go out. Although the plan had been to go through the scarezones at this point, we thought they wouldn't be open because of the rain, so went towards Holidays of Horror. The sign said it was a 5 minute wait, and it wasn't even that long. I wish we could have had a little longer to see the queue video, but we did get to see the end of Valentine's I believe, the Fourth of July and part of Easter (I might be getting these wrong, but definitely saw all of Fourth of July). Anyway, before long we were in the house. H.R. Bloodngutz: Holidays of Horror (8:00) The facade here was pretty great and I loved little nods of being channel 21 and WHHN. The first room had no scares, but H.R. was interacting with people in line and making some good jokes. I thought the Easter room was pretty cool with the eggs moving up and the Fearster Bunny popping out at us. I had to tell everyone what the Arbor Day room was, but the girl at the buzzsaw was demented and that tree was amazing when it popped out. We got stuck in the Christmas room, but the scenery here was awesome. The elves kept up the scares even though we were stopped and they kept up a great energy. We just missed the final elf scare and I had to explain to my brother that there weren't actually 2 elves in that room, it was just a nice mirror trick. Anyway, this was obviously the joke house, but I still enjoyed and still want to experience it again. We headed towards Saw n Steam and the sign said 0 minutes. We later realized that this was because the house had been flooded and wasn't open right away. People had stayed in line anyway, so once it finally opened we had about a 45 minute wait anyway. We had hoped to at least be in the house by the time Bill and Ted started at 8:45, but just missed and heard the opening songs, even though we did tune out most of the jokes. We got in the house though before anything big was ruined. Saws N Steam: Into the Machine (8:50) I loved the Saws N Steam zone last year so was looking forward to this even though it was in Jaws. The first scene with the posters on the scrim was pretty crazy and a lot of the scenes following were cool. The whole thing felt like a machine and I loved the fish tanks of flesh. I wasn't expecting the hallway with the water effect (where the fire was last year) and got splashed. The actor behind the waterfall looked spooky with his goggles and the chainsaw was extremely surprising. The actor at the exit was scaring everyone as we left and that was a great end. With all the houses done we decided to go through the scarezones next so headed towards Canyon of Lost Souls. This was so claustrophobic and the actors were amazing here. They seemed to come from nowhere despite their skull heads and I loved the light effects they turned on when they went for the scare. This was tied for my favorite scarezone and we did it three more times later in the night. Grown Evil was even more amazing in the fog at night and I know I got a few startles here with actors right in front of me. I loved the whole look of this zone and was my other favorite. We headed towards 7 next and I believe they were in their second stages. The girls on the stages definitely drew you in to distract and their minions were seemingly everywhere getting scares. The Greed minions were awesome with the money stuffed in their mouths. One time during the night one of the gluttony minions growled in my ear, while the other moved right in my face to scare me, definitely making me uncomfortable. We went towards Mel's through Nightmaze next and I really liked the shaped actors outside, getting in the way. I only got one gate shut near me and barely any scares, but I can see some potential here and hope it gets better next time I go. We got to Acid Assault next and this zone seemed full of actors. They blended in really great and surprised me a few times. I loved watching the buildings crumble and we sat there watching it a few times and watching the actors scare, they were doing great jobs. We then walked through Your Luck Has Run Out. It was nice to be able to see Lady Luck, but you could see a few of them at the same time, so kind of killed the illusion. The guard were great and their staffs effect was cool. Although the bad Lady Luck's masks kind of sucked, one of them popped out of dense fog right next to me giving me a pretty good scare and a probably audible scream that never happens. It wasn't the greatest zone, but it obviously has potential for scares. It was around 9:30 then, so we headed back and saw the Canyon of Lost Souls cast change and headed towards Bill and Ted for the 10 o'clock show. Bill and Ted was alright, some of the jokes fell flat and although a lot of people cheered the bin Laden jokes, I saw more than a few leave when he came out. (Also, what happened to the "Mission Accomplished For Realz" banners there were pictures of, the saying came on the screen but the banners would have been a better joke?) Eric from True Blood played the part perfectly though which was great. I also think Charlie Sheen was spot on. I enjoyed the show enough, but wouldn't be too upset if I didn't see it again. We decided that we could get a few houses done again after the show and went to The Forsaken at 11:00. The actors were still energetic and going after scares and this time I got to really enjoy the scenery. Unfortunately the rain seemed to be off in that scene and it didn't help convey hurricane weather. Even so, it was still a great house. We did the In-Between next with a 20 minute line and got in at 11:30. The effects still amazed me and when we got to the end, the Ops guy was calling to me trying to get me out of the house and the demons used the opportunity to scare the hell out of me in the finale. That was an awesome ending for that house. We hurried over and did Winter's Night once more at 11:50 and the actors there were working hard too. We had a pair of teenage girls in front of us that were screaming at everything and getting all the scares directed at them, but it let me take in more of the scenery of this amazing house. I still loved it this second time, but want to do it some more to hopefully see all of the effects. The night ended after that, but I can't wait to go back again. This is probably tied for the second best HHN I've been to and definitely had the most consistent line-up of houses. Sorry this got really long, but thanks for reading.

This house was so great. I got to go through it twice during opening night (as soon as it opened and right at closing) and loved it both times. I got my first big scare of the night in one of the early rooms here. I was looking into a crypt that had a nice effect where it looked to go down into the ground and had a skeleton in it. As soon as I looked back up a bride (well she was wearing a white dress) was in my face making me step back. The finale room looked amazing and almost made me think I was outside. And did I spot Mary Shaw's tombstone from Dead Silence in the back left when I first got into that room?

This house was just beautiful. The hurricane effects were amazing, but it seemed that the rain wasn't happening the second time I went through at around 11 last night. I loved just looking at the sets as I went through the house especially in the big room in the middle. I almost forgot I was inside the parade building when I was in that room, it felt like I was outside of a fort. The glowing eyes do make it easy to see some of the scares coming, but the actors still did awesome jobs, especially the ones in the chapel room with the hurricane going on in the "windows" and the actors in that big room.

I agree with this so much. It really felt like I was following Poe throughout the house, like they were all the same actor. That was pretty nice.

I went last night (Opening Night) and didn't use my normal plan for house routes, but figured I'd post what I did to maybe help. I'm a passholder though, and did the passholder houses early so it probably only worked the way it did because of that. Anyway we did Forsaken, In-Between, then Nevermore by 6:30 when the park actually opened. We then headed to the soundstages and did Winter's Night, the Thing (5 minute wait) and then Nightingales. It was about 7 o'clock by then and there was a downpour so we waited inside for an hour then did Holiday's of Horror and finally headed to Saws n Steam. We were out of Saws n Steam by 9 o'clock and got to do some scarezones and see Bill and Ted at 10 before going through scarezones again. We additionally did the Mummy and 3 of the houses a second time by midnight. So that worked for us without express passes, I'm sure it will be different on peak nights, but hopefully may work for any passholders on those event nights.

Total Nights: 1 (9/23) Houses: The Forsaken - 2 The In-Between - 2 Nevermore - 1 Winter's Night - 2 The Thing - 1 Nightingale's - 1 Holiday's of Horror - 1 Saws n Steam - 1 Shows: Bill & Ted - 1 Death Drums - 0

I thought everyone was fantastic last night (9/23) and all the actors were on their games. Most years I almost never get scares in the streets, but had 3 or 4 memorable ones last night. Here's everything I can remember. - Grown Evil: I'm sure right as it opened we had been at the passholder houses and went through this with no one else in the zone. Almost all of the actors were in our faces. And the ones with wings really know how to use them. - Winter's Night (6:40ish): In the third or fourth room there is a little effect where you look into a tomb at the floor and it looks like the tomb goes down into the floor with a skeleton in there. Well I was looking down and trying to point it out to the others in my group and as soon as I looked up there was a bride (maybe, it looked like a wedding dress) that was totally in my face making me jump. Great timing. - Holidays of Horror (8:00): The conga line stopped in the Christmas room for about 3 full minutes for some reason, but the elf in there behind Mrs. Claus just kept up scaring. He kept going back and forth getting in people's faces. I watched him the whole time so he never actually scared me, but got a few people around pretty good so that was great to watch. - Saws n' Steam (8:45): The whole cast was awesome, great energy, but the guy standing right outside at the end was awesome for a last scare and intimidating everyone as they left. - Canyon (Multiple times I know I saw both casts): Everyone in there helped to make the whole thing claustrophobic. They make great use of the area. A couple of times the big guys came up from behind me and whispered or growled in my ear, which scared me pretty good the first time it happened. - Acid Assault (9:15): These guys blend into the people really well from behind and one girl near the Twister side of the zone looked like she was a guest walking away from us before turning around and scaring my whole group. On the other side near the Mummy I was sitting waiting for my brother to film the building falling down and I watched another girl getting a few good scares by following groups of people into the zone and scaring them as they turned around. She was awesome to watch working. - Your Luck Has Run Out (9:30): There was so much fog in this area that it was almost impossible to see. Probably the third Lady Luck from the Mummy side of the zone was hiding in the fog and popped out at a perfect time to scare me. I actually jumped backwards from her, so that was awesome. - In-Between (11:30): This was my second time through the house and it was late in the night, so I didn't expect any real scares, but the demon in the finale room got me bad. The Ops guy at the end was calling me toward the exit and he just pounced and scared the hell out of me. That was awesome. These were just the ones that were memorable to me, but like I said everyone was on their game last night and made it an awesome time. I really appreciate the actors' hard work.

I was there last night and didn't have many long waits. We did the passholder event and got through the Forsaken first and while we were in line for the In-Between they opened Nevermore. I think we probably waited about 20 minutes for it, but it was still only the passholders. We got to walk through Grown Evil as they were just opening up the event since we saw a large line of people being held back and waiting to go through Grown Evil. We went and did the three soundstages with Nightingales being the longest wait of maybe 20 minutes. It started to rain while we were in line for Nightingales and was pouring by the time we finished it so we got soaked but did the mummy to waste some time and stayed in the gift shop/arcade area until the rain slowed enough (around 8 o'clock). Then we just went straight to Holidays of Horror and since everyone had been hiding from the rain there was no line (I'm not sure if the house was open during the downpour or not). We finally got to Saws n' Steam and even though the sign said 5 minutes, the house was closed as we got in line and even after it opened we had about a 40 minute wait anyway, definitely longest of the night. We did scarezones and saw Bill and Ted at 10 and then did the Forsaken, In-Between and Winter's Night again with about 15 minute waits each. I think the longest wait I personally saw was Nevermore at about 11 with 45 minutes, but according to the text alerts Saws n' Steam and Holidays of Horror were both 45 minutes at 10. I never saw an hour anywhere and just checked the text alerts and the 45 minute waits were the longest they sent. Anyway I thought it was an awesome opening night despite the rain and can't wait to go again. I probably will do a real review later.

I was definitely in a line with these guys last year. So annoying, it was like every other minute they would shout "T-Shirt Time." Something similar, in 07 I was in a long line for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre house and there was a group of guys yelling "Buttscratcher" like they were trying to sell them (Family Guy reference I think). Pretty much as annoying. Other than those annoyances, the only "bad" experience in a line was waiting behind this guy that lit up a cigarette every time the line stopped moving. Even when some Universal employees came to get him to stop, he'd just hide it and start smoking when they were gone. I guess as my worst line experience it's not so bad at least.

Thanks, I did end up calling yesterday and meant to reply here in case anyone else had the same problem. I talked a girl working there and after a discussion with her manager they figured out that it was fine and all they had to do was charge me the difference for the tickets. Because I did the print-at-home option I don't have to exchange the tickets, the ones I printed just won't work. So now instead I just have to pick up the FFP+ pass at will-call. So they are willing to upgrade if anyone else needs to do the same.

Hey, I had a question about tickets and figured this might be a good place to get an answer. Earlier this month my friends decided we should go Opening Night. When we decided we actually bought our tickets right away, just for that one night. I did the print-at-home option so I have them ready. Since then I've decided to go with some other friends on a later Friday in October along with Opening Night. Looking at ticket options, the FFP+ option would have been perfect if I didn't buy my ticket already (I have an AP and would save a few bucks and have the option of going with other friends another night as well). So does anyone know if the ticket office will let me upgrade my one night ticket to the FFP+ option. Thanks

Thanks guys, sorry it took so long, but here's Part 2 of the report. So it's about 8:45 and since we just got out of the Catacombs, we decided to immediately get in line for Havoc in the next line. Havoc - 9:00 It was a 10 minute wait for this house (probably one of the shortest waits I've ever been in for this tent throughout the years). I really liked this facade especially the gun that randomly moved around and shot. We got inside and as we turned out of the first room, the scareactor with the air gun got us immediately and he was very intense yelling at us. As we passed the guy in the cell behind the plexiglass he hit the glass scaring our whole group and as we turned to the other side, he got most of the group again. The rest of the house kept up the same intensity. In the barrel room, a scareactor came running at the group, screaming at us. I know he must have scared my friends behind me, because I was instantly pushed forward into almost a run. I got my most memorable scare from the house later in a short hallway. The hallway was dark and I realized that the lights would flash and there would be a scareactor on the ground jumping up to scare us. What I didn't realize was that there were two scareactors in the room. So as I focused on the one to the right of the door, the one on the left got in my face and scared the hell out of me. The rest of the house was a blur, except for getting hit by water in the scene before the exit. This house was definitely intense and although many of the scenes looked the same, it was one of the better non-soundstage houses of the night. We were out of Havoc by 9:00 and decided it would be a good time to see Bill and Ted since the next show was at 9:15. Bill and Ted to me has gone downhill since my first year in 06, but I was willing to still give it a chance, despite some bad reviews on here. The show was good for a few laughs, but just seemed too disjointed and just had way random references (do they really expect the average HHN attendee to know who Dr. Who is? cause I know my friends had to ask me who he was). The show served as a nice break and a good rest, but my friends and I agreed that it really wasn't that great. I think the actors did a good job with what they had, but the story just wasn't great. So it's almost 10 by this time and we decided to ride Men in Black since I knew the Orfanage would have a huge line after BIll and Ted had finished. We ended up in line near this group of drunken idiots that I was very glad we never saw in any of the houses because they would have easily ruined the experience. We moved on and decided to do the Orfanage finally at 10:15. The Orfanage - 11:10 This was the longest wait of the night for us at 45 minutes. The wait was worth it, however, cause this was definitely a fun house. The kids in the house, although for the most part it was easy to see their hiding places, still got some scares from our group. The zoo room was really cool, the giraffe in the boo hole definitely scared us all and I loved the monkey reaching down from above us to serve as a distraction. The fire effect was really cool to see, and I think the smoke through the rest of the house definitely made it feel like the house was burning down. We didn't actually see the scareactors in the finale room, and I was a little upset that Cindy didn't scare us, but it was overall a pretty solid house. It was about 11:15 by now and my friends wanted to stop to get something to eat. We stayed around Amity and got some food for about a half hour or so then headed toward Zombie Gras. Zombie Gras was a cool scarezone and I loved the music they were playing in it. The zombies all had great costumes and it was cool seeing the parade float there, but we actually didn't get many scares from here. We got in line for Zombiegeddon next. Zombiegeddon - 12:10 There was a 10 minute wait for this house, but I almost wish it was a little longer because this was such a great queue video that I wanted to watch more of. It was pretty funny and set the story for the house. They were slightly pulsing the line for this and I ended up being first in a group of 20 or so. I liked the set-up room with the zombie in place of a secretary and all of the weapons sitting around. We barely missed the zombie baby scene and then it seemed like the house turned immediately to all of the zombies attacking us (I think we must have missed something that showed the parade float crashing into the house or something, but it seemed a little confusing). The rest of the house seemed to go by really quickly and I somehow kept missing all of the scare set-ups, which was a little disappointing, but it was pretty fun to leave the house right into the scarezone of the same theme. I wish Universal could do this more often. We decided to walk back toward the soundstages and passed the Chainsaw Drill Team. One of my friends decided she'd be safer surrounded by everyone else in the group and one of the chainsaw guys saw this and yelled at her that they'll attack the people in the middle first. She got pretty scared and hurried out of the zone as he revved up his saw. We decided that we should do a soundstage again and Legendary Truth had about a 15 minute wait, so we got in line and did the house at about 12:45. This time around the scareactor in the floor was there and scared most of the group. It was a really cool looking effect to be sure. Most of the scares were the same this time around, and I knew where to look so got to appreciate the details. Near the end the chair actor got our group and that was such a great costume and surprised the whole group. Two times through for the night and this was definitely a favorite house for the whole group. The girls in the group were tired so we walked them to the exit and my brother and I stayed to try to get through a few more house walkthroughs. We went back through 20 Years of Fear which seemed scarier and more crowded with actors this time (about 1:00). We hurried through Fear Revealed and got in line for Hallow'd Past which had a 5 minute wait that was all just walking through the queue. This time around was such a better experience. We got hit with more of the scares early in the house. When we got to the Spine scene, the Body Collector had just started and the line stopped moving to watch it. It was a cool effect and everyone started clapping when it was over, which was awesome that so many people realized to do it. In the finale room I saw Chance, who didn't try to scare again, and Jack at the end who got the group in front of me. It was a really fun walkthrough and I was glad we got to do it again giving me a better house experience to remember. We got in line for Catacombs next and while in line saw the cast change for Hallow'd Past. It was awesome as the Assistant attacked a girl in line behind us, running after her and leaning on the chain post. Catacombs was a good experience again, and those Plague Doctors still got me every time. When we finished it was about 1:15 and we got in line for Havoc again. There were about 30 people in line, but they were pulsing in groups so it took about 10 minutes to get to the front. They ended up pulsing so that my brother and I went in alone, about a minute and a half behind the group in front of us. It was a great experience, as we never saw another guest through the whole house. Almost all of the scareactors attacked us trying to scare and was just an awesome experience overall. All of the actors, after such a long night, were still on top of their games. We decided to do the Orfanage, since there was almost no one in line as we passed it. They too were pulsing in groups, and actually held the line because there was a cast change. It was cool seeing the cast leave the house, as they all kept in character, holding hands and skipping until they were out of sight. My brother and I went through alone again. Another great experience. I got a few scares in here and finally saw Cindy in the finale room. I actually waved to her goodbye, and instead of trying to scare me head on, she came out of the side scaring me out of the house. By now it was 1:40 and we wanted to go through the Coven and Saws and Steam again, so we skipped Zombiegeddon. We passed over Saws and Steam for the moment, and were actually attacked by two of the chainsaw guys as we were passing. One of them, a pretty big guy, moved into my path and eventually revved his chainsaw pretty close to my arm. I actually kind of ducked out of the way and was laughing all the way to the Coven. The Coven looked really cool this late at night and it was almost impossible to see the Witches coming at you in the fog. When they came though, I loved to see their costumes. I didn't get any scares here, but one of the older looking witches definitely scared my brother. We actually did a U-Turn and walked back through the Coven again to go to Saws and Steam. The chainsaw guys were still out and harassed us as we walked into Sting Alley. We seemed to be alone in there and all of the actors came towards us as we passed. It was fun to see the glowing eyes coming out of the fog. As we got out of the zone it was 1:50 and we decided to do Hades as our last house. There were a few people in line (mostly scareactors who were done for the night I think) and we went right into the house. There didn't seem to be as much smoke at the facade this time, but we still got scares as we went into the first room. It was cool to see the details in all of the rooms this time. And I finally was able to realize what the trick was in the Minotaur room (awesome effect that has to get so many scares). In the last few rooms it seemed like every scareactor attacked us and I loved their dedication so late in the night. It was a great walkthrough and a good way to end the houses. We finally left the park through Esqueleto Muerte and the actors were still out. A few of the skeletons got in my path as I was leaving and I even got one of them cocking her head sideways at me which looked really cool with the lights. I was so glad they were still out so late and definitely appreciated it. It was a good finish to the night. Very tired and sad that we wouldn't be back again, we left the park. It was a great event, with a perfect mixture of old and new. I feel like there were no really weak houses this year. We definitely had a great time and it was the perfect birthday trip for me.

WARNING Spoilers ahead, I'm going to go into some detail of all of the houses. Also, this will probably be pretty long (I tend to be "long-winded" when I type things out). I got to go to HHN XX this year on Saturday October 2nd, which happened to be my birthday. It will be my only chance of going this year, so I wanted to make sure I could get to see everything. I went with my brother, his girlfriend, and two other female friends who I knew were "screamers" so I was expecting to have lots of fun laughing at their scares. We got to the park and through the gates just after 6, and immediately saw the Chainsaw Drill Team. These guys were already scaring guests and my friends made sure to steer our group clear of them. We decided to head toward the soundstages first so walked through Esqueleto Muerte. Although it was still bright outside, the scareactors were still getting some scares with good distractions. The scarezone looked cool, but we knew we would come back to it later when it was dark so we hurried through. We came up to Legendary Truth first, and with a 15 minute wait decided to do it. The wait in line was a little longer than 15 minutes, but it gave us time to decide on an order for the group to go through: I would go first, my brother would be last, and the three girls decided they would be safest in the middle. Legendary Truth -6:30 They were pulsing in groups of about 20 people at a time, and we ended up right in the middle of one of these groups. We walked inside and I was amazed by the facade. I had seen pictures (the one from one of the videos on the website) but I was still surprised at how awesome it looked in person. We walked up the porch steps and the Spirit Seeker was running back and forth at the line telling people about their investigation. He actually scared one of my friends. We kept going through the house (actually missing the scareactor in the floor in the hallway this time through), but the ghost behind the wall paper scrim was a really cool effect and scared one of my friends so much I got pushed into the person in the conga line in front of me. I believe next was the sitting room where the ghost face appears in the windows (great effect if you get it timed right). My brother's girlfriend is pretty short and there was an actor in this room that happened to be at her eye-level that terrified her so much she let out a huge scream that I actually thought was a sound effect from the house. I ended up laughing about it through the next few rooms so may have missed a few scares here and there. The next room I remember was the bed scene, which was a cool effect, but looks pretty uncomfortable for the actor there actually. There were a few more hallways where I got some scares and saw some cool scenes (was the Storyteller in a mirror effect here?). We missed the chair scareactor's prompt this time around, but the statues in the last room were great and served as a cool finale. (I'm going to put my rankings at the end as I went through most of the houses twice). We were out of Legendary Truth by 6:30 and got in line for Psychoscareapy next with another 15 minute wait. Psychoscareapy - 6:50 I've loved the two Psychoscareapy houses that I had gone through in years past, so was definitely looking forward to this house. I loved how Shadybrook looked decrepit and condemned. The girl in the front with the scissors coming out of her eye was really gross-looking and one of the most memorable parts of the house. The cell hallway with the hands sticking out was creepy, I don't think any of them reached out towards me, but I'm know they scared someone in my group, because I was pushed forward quickly out of the scene. The scareactor at the start of the library was good, coming out with his scare yelling "Quiet in the library". I hit the Red Button as I passed it (it was cool to see), and the air jets and noise scared the hell out of my friends. The guy opposite of "sparky" (the electric chair scene) attacked my group and was an intense scare. The strobes at the end really set up a few scares, and one of the inmates got pretty close to me and I actually felt scared for the first time here. We next walked over to Hades and with a 10 minute wait (that was actually closer to 5) we did it next. Hades - 7:05 I wasn't really impressed with the facade here, but loud music and the smoke made it seem pretty ominous. We were attacked as soon as we got inside by Charon (I think) and all of the scareactors seemed to be going after anyone that came through. The Stygian Witches looked amazing and really freaked out one of my friends, and the Medusa scenes were some of the coolest in the house, I especially liked the stone Medusa head effect at the end. The Minotaur looked pretty scary actually and the labyrinth was such an amazing effect (that I didn't figure out until the second time through the house). The throne at the end definitely confused everyone since they were expecting someone to pop out from around it since no one was sitting there. Still this was an amazing house. We got out of Hades and it wasn't totally dark yet, so we decided to ride the Mummy. It was a five minute wait, but it was a lot darker outside by the time we were finished (it was about 7:20 by then). We decided to go through most of the scarezones now, starting with Saws and Steam. The whole of Sting Alley looks pretty ominous, with smoke everywhere, it was pretty hard to see. A scareactor got in one of our pictures and sufficiently freaked out one of my friends (she quickly moved away from him as he got in the picture). I wish the chainsaws were in Sting Alley instead of patrolling in the streets around it since the fog would hide them really well, but oh well. The mini-shows here were pretty cool to see and the chainsaw guys really got a few scares out of my group at the end. We walked through the Coven next (7:30 ish). The Pilgrims being burned really stayed in character and I saw one of them get a couple of scares. The witches were really cool, and one of them came out of nowhere to scare my brother who doesn't look like he scares easily (he's 6'4" or so). From the Coven we went through Esqueleto Muerte. We knew about the scareactors in black in the coffins, so none of them actually scared us, but this zone looks great after dark. We went to HHN: 20 Years of Fear next (7:40 maybe). It was cool to see Chucky get a scare and Mary Shaw on heelies was pretty funny to see. All of the costumes in this zone were great to see (I also remember a Frankenstein monster, and Wolfman that scared our group), and the crazy Alice (I think) was waiting just outside of the zone surprising me and giving me a scare. We went into Fear Revealed next (7:50). Jack and Cindy were surrounded by people waiting for pictures, so I don't think we saw much of them. Fear was a little disappointing, but I loved the details of the little figurine daggers that he wore. The girls wanted a picture with an icon, and we found the Caretaker by himself. They got a picture with him where he was staring pretty menacingly at one of them with his scissors ready to attack. While they were getting the picture, Cindy came up seemingly from nowhere and gave me a scare. She stayed for a second, asking if I liked playing and skipped away. We left the zone and went through the Central Park pumpkins which looked awesome. We then headed towards the Hallow'd Past and since it was a 15 minute wait we got in line. Hallow'd Past - 8:10 This first walkthrough I was a little disappointed. We ended up behind this guy that was kind of acting like a jackass throughout the house, so that didn't help. He would yell at the props and sometimes try to tell the scareactors what to do. The worst part was that he got hit with most of the scares. Even so, this house looks amazing. The warehouse in the beginning was great to try and find props from previous years, but even, though I understand the concept that they don't come alive until after the spinning tunnel, I think they are missing a lot of chances for scares in here. The Treaks and Foons room really seemed like a maze, and I loved them bringing back the Alice in Wonderland scene. Dead Exposure, one of my favorite houses ever, was cool to see again, but for some reason I don't think they captured the feel of the house there. Frightanic was nice to see, and I wish they had more scenes from earlier in the event like it. I liked seeing the Body Collectors back, but we had just missed the spine pulling. The Assistants though did get some people around us. I remember seeing Chance and Jack in the finale, but Chance never came out to scare. Jack did surprise us as we left, but this was the first house that no one in the group got any big scares. We immediately turned from exiting this line to do Catacombs with a 15 minute wait. Catacombs - 8:35 Though the facade wasn't very impressive, it hides a really cool house. The scenes all looked the same mostly, but they definitely looked like what I would think of Catacombs. The Plague Doctors in this house, though, were amazing. I got two or three good scares from them. I liked the coughing prompt as we walked by them. My whole group had some good scares in here and it was definitely one of everyone's favorite houses. (to be continued since it is getting very late and this is already pretty long).

Yeah Saturday early they were pulsing LT, but it was like 20 people, a minute break, and then the next group. Hallow'd Past was sort of pulsed when I went, but it seemed random the size of the groups going in and the timing. And Zombiegeddon they were pulsing when I went after midnight, but they weren't giving too much room between the groups cause I was the first in our group and I think I walk a little slow, but we caught up to the other group about halfway through the house. I don't remember them pulsing us through the other soundstages though, I especially remember Hades being a full conga line and this was like at 7:00.

I went last Saturday (October 2nd) and all of the scareactors were great the whole time I was there. I may post a full review soon, but just wanted to give a couple of thanks to some of the more memorable scareactors. (I'll put down the approximate times for those that I remember and these are probably in time order so I might jump around to different places a few times). - In Saws & Steam at about 7:15 my friends stopped at the entrance of Sting Alley to take a picture with the steam rising behind them. One of the actors with the glowing glasses got into the picture and sufficiently freaked one of my friends out so much that she just kept backing away out of the picture. It was pretty funny and we had a good laugh at her later for being scared. - In Fear Revealed at sometime between 7:30 and 7:45 my friends wanted a picture with one of the icons. The Caretaker was standing alone by himself so they went after him. To his credit though he didn't just pose easily, he stood there staring at my brother's girlfriend turned away from the others in the picture and when the pic was snapped he had his scissors open ready for an attack. It turned out to be a really cool picture. - At the same time, I was waiting for them and Cindy came up to me and actually made me jump (I never get scared in scarezones) cause she looked like she just appeared from nowhere. She then stayed around for a second asked me if I enjoyed playing there and skipped off to scare someone else. She was exactly what I thought Cindy should be like. - Both times I went through the Catacombs (probably at 8:35 and again at 1:05) those plague doctors always got me. They just seemed to have perfect timing so great job to all of them. - While we were waiting in line for Catacombs the second time (so probably 1:00) we saw the cast change for Hallow'd Past, and the Body Collector's Assistant that was going into the house just attacked a girl standing in line behind us. I don't know if he knew her or what, but they all started walking past, I saw him eying something towards the line, and he just ran over, leaning on the post that was holding the chains up for the line reaching and grabbing at her. It was hilarious to watch. - Near the end of the night (1:15 or 1:20), we hit Havoc with a five minute wait and that was because they were pulsing groups. By that time it was only my brother and I left from our group, so we ended up in the house alone (the group in front had gotten about a minute and a half head start). Everyone in there was just so intense in scaring us. It was a great experience. - While waiting in line for the Orfanage near the end of the night (1:30) we saw one cast leave. They had to be tired from a long night of scaring, but they all stayed in character, holding hands and skipping on the way out. It was great and I love it. - The Saws & Steam cast near the end of the night (probably about 1:45) were attacking everyone that came near them. All of the chainsaw guys were spread out on the street getting scares til the end. As I was walking by I was watching one of them who was near me the whole time, but he still scared me when he revved his saw right next to me and put it in front of me. - Finally, as we were leaving the park at 1:55, we walked through Esqueleto Muerte toward the exit. Everyone was leaving, but they were all still dancing around through the zone, getting scares here and there, and staying in character. I really appreciated that, after a long night they were still keeping it up to the end. So these were just some of the great moments I remembered right now. All of the scareactors were amazing though, it was such a great experience, so I wanted to tell you thank you for a great experience for all of you on here.

I was there Saturday. The longest wait I had was for the Orfanage at 45 minutes at about 10:20. Most waits that I saw were 15 to 30 minutes. And actually by the end of the night (after 1) everything was five minutes and that was only because they were pulsing groups into some houses (my brother and I did the Orfanage and Havoc totally alone).