Hello Boils and Ghouls, JW here.
"Who's JW?" Well, for a long time I was a die-hard obsessed HHN fan who modded here and also on the Vault. I've been going to HHN since '91 and only missed last year and 2004.
Not that any of that matters, it's not like you get some kind of trophy for going to a Halloween event, but it is a tidbit about myself
Long story short, I got fed up with the whole thing and did HOS last year... Yeah it pretty much sucked. Everyone told me how amazing last year was so I came back with the caveat that I pay the exorbitant price for Express so I wouldn't be stressed out and boy did that pay off. I cannot stress enough how much you need express if you plan to go one time or, like me, being in a large crowd of sweaty people makes you physically ill and and also makes your eyes twitch. You will wait 65-125 min a house. Statistically this puts you, at best, 650 min which is more time than the event is pen in a single night.
Anyhoo. it was great. It was amazing weather for the first time in... 10 years? The express allowed me to do 14 houses in 8 hours (4 done during AP party and before the queues got too large). I wasn't stressed. I had a great time and enjoyed nearly every house.
So kudos Universal. Great houses, great experience. The crowds are insane but what exactly can be done about that? Raise the price? I will go into my "in-depth" review of each house at this point so spoilers.
TLDR/ JW like! Spoilers ahead.
Now to see if I can remember the houses:
Trick R' Treat
Walk on 1st, 80 min 2nd
8 of 10
Pros: Beautiful house. Really captured what I expected a Trick R' Treat house would be. Amazing details and little touches.
Cons: Minor but this my favorite Halloween movie of all time. Focused a little too much on the end battle. Continuity was strange and jumped around. Started with essentially he end and ended with the middle. INSANE SHARED QUEUE with Seeds.
Seeds Of Extinction
Walk on 1st, 50 min 2nd
10 of 10
Pros: I believe it was my favorite of the night. Great claustrophobic house. Scareactors blend in really well. Beautiful immersion. Great scares. Just wonderful.
Cons: 2 days till pretty much the entire extinction of humanity seemed... extreme. INSANE SHARED QUEUE with Trick R' Treat.
Dead Exposure
10 min first, 65 min 2nd
8 of 10
Pros: Really felt like the original. Monkey puppet best scare for me of the night.
Cons: Hard to navigate the strobes were very disorienting so I couldn't judge how close I was to the guy in front of me. I may owe him dinner now.
Slaughter Cinema
15 min 1st 65 2nd
7 of 10
Pros: Felt like Blood N Guts meets Silver Screams. Some unique scare tactics. Comedy house. GIANT critter!
Cons: I dunno just kind of falls flat for me. Some interesting sets but I just won't latch to this one. BNG and Silver Screams did it so well it doesn't feel like it hit that mark. Not bad just not my favorite.
Blum House
55 min
4 of 10
This was not interesting to me in the least. First house I used my express and glad I did. Would not do this one again.
Poltergeist
75 min
9 of 10
Pros: Great facade, great scare, unique rooms, good scares. Funko Doorway Spectre. Dimensional womb.GIANT SKUll!
Cons: A little slow to start with strange continuity but the back half more than made up for it.
Scary Tales
70 min
9 of 10
Pros: Great addition to the ST franchise. Inventive new angles. Honestly competes with ST II IMHO and it was one of my all time favorites.
Cons: A bit too much light.
Carnival Graveyard:
60 min
7 of 10
Pros: Awesome Facade. Immersive unique sets. Inventive scares.
Cons: Wasn't what I was expecting. Too much gore. Felt this should be more like Gothic (read as beautiful and spooky) and less like a generic killer house.
Stranger Things:
120 min
10 of 10
Beautifully executed. Amazing sets (glowing portal was amazing). Great costumes. Great animatronics. Great use of an IP. Guarantee this will be back.
Halloween:.
65 min
8 of 10
Pros: Surprisingly, good. Not a fan of Halloween but it was well done. Some neat ideas implemented
Cons: Just kind of starts. No facade. Some of the acting was disingenuous. Meyers either held the knife really close to his body or like Jim Carrey in the knife skit.
I'll write about the scare zones later. I didn't see the show.
