HHN XX Rants

[kimlovesfl]

You know what I hate? People who sit in my chair and don't get up when I tell them to, leaving a coordinator to come over and chase them out. Would I tell you to not sit in my chair if I didn't mean it? I know this isn't a Universal rant, but my god, I get sick of doing this several times a night. I want a remote controlled joy buzzer.

[Cramer]

Heh heh, I always think to myself "I'd have a great new facebook status picture if I got a shot of me in that chair..." but then realize that it probably isn't too good of an idea, and make my way on XD.

Also, on the keys...wtf? I have a (de-milled, completely safe)30.06 bullet on my keyring, and I've had it for years, and never has a security guard said anything at Universal. Granted, I did have to throw it away once (and of course buy another) when I had to go into a court house, but that's different. I know that I'm beating a dead horse here, but maybe Universal will get the point and get a contract through a security company that's a bit more professional.

And I hope it's Wackenhut. I love seeing their revolvers XD.

[Cramer]

Ok, another security rant. I come to the park around 8:30 PM last night, and holy shit the "line" to get through the detectors is larger than I've ever seen before in my HHN career..and not only that, it's just a big group of people. No organization. After a good 20 minutes or so of waiting, I figure out what the hubbub is about. They're checking every. Little. Thing. I think now they're trying to make up for all of the crap they missed before, and now they're going overboard. Everyone had to take off their belts (umm...WHAT?! This isn't a court room!) and a security guard barred me from entering because the key to my motorcycle looks like a golf car key 0.o. He steps in front of the detector as I'm about to walk through, and holds the key in my face, and says "Son, why the hell do you have a golf cart key?" Not that it's any of his damn business if I had a golf cart key or not (I mean, REALLY, WTF does that have to do with ANYTHING?! Friggin power tripping prying ASSHOLES) so I responded "It's to my motorcycle, you douche." He didn't say a word, and put it back in the bowl, and motioned me through. Once I obviously didn't explode, I grabbed my stuff, and stormed off.

Also, were the crowds last night ginormous for a Thursday or is it just me?

[hhncarrie]

The crowds last night were INSANE especially for a Thursday. We left about 9pm because we could not take anymore of the stupid teenagers that were there in droves. It seemed like every teenager in Orlando and Tampa went. Some of them were acting ok but most we observed were just being little jerks to the scareactors. I don't know how you guys deal with that, it infuriated me and we were just watching the 20 years scarezone as bystanders. Luckily, frequent fear pass will allow us to come many more times and put the last half of last night behind us.

[Tman875]

Orange County doesn't have school today! That is why the park was extra busy with school-aged children.

[Michele]

Yeah, I was not happy with the way the crowds were dealt with last night. I normally get there early, but I got held up and couldn't get in line to enter parking till 6:45. I didn't get inside the park until 8:30! The major hold ups were parking (which always sucks) and the line at the metal detectors that stretched to well past where the employees are set up selling Express passes and lanyards.

[TheEyeOfHorus]

i got in line for security at 7... got out of line and went home at 7:30

[Cramer]

I guess it's the perfect time for security to up their security, when the crowds go insane. Well, although there were a few teens that I would have loved to become real victims, there were a few that entertained me quite a lot, especially the screaming teen girls. For some reason I haven't experienced them on a weekday for a WHILE. And seeing scareactors get them -good- made the event better. In catacombs I was following some guy that insisted on touching EVERYTHING and ops said nothing...and Hallow'd Past, I was following a guy with his camera out taking pictures of everything o.0 and ops still said nothing. This was towards the end of the night, as ops were opening their backstage doors in the house exposing everything, talking to each other, and really kinda killing it a bit for me.

I'm typing a lot about last night because I was too tired to type everything when I got home.

[Troiandan]

It's probably good I wasn't able to make it on Thursday night - even Friday night I encountered more obnoxious teens than I would have liked. I saw too many young'uns hassling Jack, and really wished I could put them in their place. And I got really tired of the teen boys who kept saying "Hey lady, you part of the show?" Sorry, kids, but if you're not an actor, you don't get to talk to me that way.

Of course, if you are an actor, said behavior is strongly encouraged...

[JDW]

After visiting HOS and being treated with the utmost respect by employees (kinda like I was a guest and paying customer), not being yelled at to keep moving by Op employees, not having to wait an hour to walk through a metal detector, not being escorted out of the park for a button, not being yelled at by muscle head security guards for simply asking a question, no loud drunken fights, no ridiculous crowds, no smoking in the lines (no lines really), and in general having a stress-free night where I got to enjoy myself... I think Universal needs to take a good hard look at how it treats it's "guests".

[Cramer]

After visiting HOS and being treated with the utmost respect by employees (kinda like I was a guest and paying customer), not being yelled at to keep moving by Op employees, not having to wait an hour to walk through a metal detector, not being escorted out of the park for a button, not being yelled at by muscle head security guards for simply asking a question, no loud drunken fights, no ridiculous crowds, no smoking in the lines (no lines really), and in general having a stress-free night where I got to enjoy myself... I think Universal needs to take a good hard look at how it treats it's "guests".

Sadly, I concur. There were a few times that I was literally lost in a normal house, because I had the chance to go through by myself...no ops...nothing. I had to listen for screams and loud noises and whatnot. It was great. Hardly any ops at all in HOS houses. The only thing that bugged me is if you go through alone they send a cop behind you, but still....I'd rather that than an ops in every room. They also sent "stage managers" or whatever they're called through with the lines in lieu of ops, who really didn't do anything, and were hard to pick out unless you stared them down and looked really closely for the name tag. I'd much rather have Uni send discrete people through to do the same job as the people who just stand around, annoying us all.

[iLOVEhhn]

i LOVE hhn... as you can tell from my name. i don't even live in florida and make sure to come a minimum of 2 nights a year (usually 3 or 4) since my first experience in 2004.

progressively, HHN is turning into something that is no longer fun and brings more frustration and maneuvering through crowds than it does scares. before i explain my HORROR of a situation that i had this year (this last Thursday night) let me explain ONE issue i had last year.

someone else posted something like this about their brother and a chain on his wallet. i didn't know that you couldn't wear a studded bracelet. a NICE, EXPENSIVE studded bracelet. i had no money to pay for a locker and had been dropped off so that i could drink... no where to put my bracelet. i asked one of the employees behind the merch kiosk after parking if they would hold it and they kindly obliged and put it behind the counter. i asked them what time they closed and they said "2". i came back at 1:15 to find it completely closed and security unwilling to help. i came BACK the next day before my flight left and magically, my bracelets were gone. HHN, a studded bracelet isn't going to hurt anyone.

i was pleased to hear someone else on here say that they were insulted and offended by virtually every staff member they came into contact with... this was my experience as well (excluding scareactors, of course).

my first issue was in the catacombs house where we were pulsed through. we buy express passes because i don't have the privilege of coming back for too many nights. after being pulsed through, I walked through at a normal pace (for a haunted house... surely i shouldn't be expected to sprint) and was rudely commanded by an OPS (i believe they are called). "KEEP MOOOOVING!". i said, "hey man, i paid $340 to be scared. i'm just trying to have a good time." he replied to me, "I DON'T REALLY CARE", shined his flashlight in my face and again commanded that i move forward. this was less than a minute after i was pulsed through the line.

i am a fan of pulsing. it is hard to be scared and almost pointless, imo, to go through in a straight solid line. even if you try not to, you can tell where all the actors are and it ruins the scare. an hour wait with pulsing, imo, is much better than a 45 min one in a straight line. but then again, i pay for the express pass now. a much easier way to get through the event.

after this (and this was still early in the night) we went to the house to the right [EDIT: to the LEFT] of twister (i can't remember the name right now). the express line didn't move for 15 min and my friend (who had been drinking a little, but was in no way belligerent) said, "this is supposed to be EXPRESS!" and then laughed afterwards. everyone around us laughed. then a female police officer, who obviously had nothing better to do since it was still so early came up to him and stood 6 inches from his face... like she wanted to fight. she said, "BACK UP!" and my friend did. then she stood there and didn't know what to do because my friend actually backed up. then she said, "BACK UP SIR!" again and i said, "he just did what you asked him." she looked at me and said, "LISTEN..." and was cut off by some of the other people in the line saying that he didn't need to be reprimanded and eventually she left. totally uncalled for. we had two drinks so far... MAX. i understand some of the people on this forum who have to deal with drunk people all the time, but everyone you see with a blinking glass is not drunk or rude.

the rest of the night was spoiled by OPS screaming at us or flashing their lights the MOMENT we finally were getting scared. i come to get scared, not to be escorted through a building by rude employees or to watch the people in front of me get scared. i would disagree with an OPS comment i read earlier in this thread that said, "for every 1 bad one, there are 10 good ones." i fount the ratio to be completely reversed. and i make sure to thank and be appreciative of the nice ones. because there aren't many.

i was pleased with the joke writing in the B&T show, although overall the entrance/exits of characters left the show wanting more. i always tip my hat to the scareactors and especially like the mardi-gras themed scarezone where i danced alone for 20 minutes at the end of the night and all the actors gave me beads when their shifts were over.

i stopped to complain about the female officer and the OPS in catacombs. the guy who helped me first was helpful, but then his boss came out. ETHAN. the rudest manager ever. who explained to me that they "have no corporate number" and that "this is as far as your complaint is going to go." so he thinks. i've already contacted HIS supervisor and his supervisors supervisor. that story is way too long to explain, but i have a hard time actually believing he is in charge of Guest Relations at the end of a night.

THEN I GOT TO CITY WALK.

i know that city walk is a completely separate entity from HHN, but... while i'm on this long rant anyway...

we get to the Whopper Bar @ 2:05. i quickly make friends with the employees and they decide to take our order as well as one lady after us even though they were supposed to close at 2. after waiting 20 minutes for the food that i already paid for they explained to me that... wait for it... wait... for... it... they ran out of whoppers. so i explain to them, "just give me whatever you can and then when i'm back on sunday, give me my food that i paid for for free." they obliged. then, BEFORE I GET MY FOOD, a security guard started kicking us out. i explained to him that i didn't have my food yet and he said, "not my problem." i said, "what do you want me to do? put yourself in my shoes... i haven't gotten what i paid for yet." he replied to me, "if i were you, i wouldn't be out this late..." insinuating that i'm irresponsible for being out this late. eventually i got my food and went out to eat. then they started kicking everyone out of the table area. i went up and asked who exactly he works for and he pointed me to his boss who i went up to and started complaining to. outside of everything he said to me, he was rude and on a high horse. his supervisor listened and was understanding until i tried to say that he didn't have a right to kick me out before i got the food i purchased. "actually, your wrong. we have the right to kick you out anytime." i said, "maybe on paper or by law... but that issue is between you and burger king who shouldn't have served me. as a customer, this is not my issue." anyway, more arguing ensued and i ended up leaving... and called city walk security the next day.

i know this was long... but all of these situations really made, what could have been a great visit to HHN, stressful and annoying. the OPS are completely ruining the experience... and none of the staff treat you like you actually paid hundreds of dollars TO BE THEIR GUEST! maybe universal needs to adopt some DISNEY smiles.

scareactors... i will be back tomorrow night (sunday) and i have a WHITE mohawk and will be traveling with an asian guy... scare me extra more when you see me... cause i love you guys.

thank you for this forum where i can vent and be so angry!

i still love HHN.

and i'll end on a positive note. Jim from Finnigans is the best bartender in florida. it's a little more expensive to drink in there... but you can taste (and feel) the difference!

Edited October 16, 2010 by iLOVEhhn

[LV-426]

someone else posted something like this about their brother and a chain on his wallet. i didn't know that you couldn't wear a studded bracelet. a NICE, EXPENSIVE studded bracelet. i had no money to pay for a locker and had been dropped off so that i could drink... no where to put my bracelet. i asked one of the employees behind the merch kiosk after parking if they would hold it and they kindly obliged and put it behind the counter. i asked them what time they closed and they said "2". i came back at 1:15 to find it completely closed and security unwilling to help. i came BACK the next day before my flight left and magically, my bracelets were gone. HHN, a studded bracelet isn't going to hurt anyone.

my first issue was in the catacombs house where we were pulsed through. we buy express passes because i don't have the privilege of coming back for too many nights. after being pulsed through, I walked through at a normal pace (for a haunted house... surely i shouldn't be expected to sprint) and was rudely commanded by an OPS (i believe they are called). "KEEP MOOOOVING!". i said, "hey man, i paid $340 to be scared. i'm just trying to have a good time." he replied to me, "I DON'T REALLY CARE", shined his flashlight in my face and again commanded that i move forward. this was less than a minute after i was pulsed through the line.z

i am a fan of pulsing. it is hard to be scared and almost pointless, imo, to go through in a straight solid line. even if you try not to, you can tell where all the actors are and it ruins the scare. an hour wait with pulsing, imo, is much better than a 45 min one in a straight line. but then again, i pay for the express pass now. a much easier way to get through the event.

the rest of the night was spoiled by OPS screaming at us or flashing their lights the MOMENT we finally were getting scared. i come to get scared, not to be escorted through a building by rude employees or to watch the people in front of me get scared. i would disagree with an OPS comment i read earlier in this thread that said, "for every 1 bad one, there are 10 good ones." i fount the ratio to be completely reversed. and i make sure to thank and be appreciative of the nice ones. because there aren't many.

This is Why Pulsing is extremely stupid, because you're supposed to be in a group, but What happened to me is that I was first in the group, after they let another group go with pulsing, So I thought I thought there will be no one in front of me, but then every OPS person inside tells me to move faster and catch up, I ended up catching up to the other group in the middle of the house, forming a straight solid line inside, so is like, there is actually no point in pulsing,

about the Bracelet, That really sucks, I wear those as well and I am glad I never had one on in the event, I always wondered, but didn't risk it,

that is also really stupid, You can hurt someone more with a necklace, a Purse a belt or even a Shoe than with one of those studded bracelets, I seriously doubt anyone would use that as a weapon, that's so dumb

Edited October 17, 2010 by black7mask

[HHN_Fanatic]

Thursday night (14th) was insane. We managed to get all the houses in right away and then headed over to B&T show. when we exited the show and started walking through the park we realized the crowd was not getting any better. You couldn't even tell where the scarezones were. Oh, and not to mention the group of teenagers behind us were urinating in line for Zombigeddon. Our night ended at 9:30. It sucked.

[Daniel]

We saw some kid scale the fence towards the Hard Rock hotel to bypass security on Thursday night. He then walked over to the metal detectors to wait for his friends to make it through. What's the point of scrutinizing keys and buttons if they leave such gaping holes in security?

[Cramer]

Dunno where to put this, so I'll put it here. The other night I saw a booth up where 21+ had to get a wristband to drink alcohol. Is that a new step from Universal to curb drinking, or is it a convenience thing so they wouldn't have to show their ID at every booth or something?

[Maggot]

Security seems really anal this year. My girlfriend has had the same purse for the last three years. She has brought this purse with her since her first HHN in 08. Her purse has a chain connected to the shoulder strap so it fits comfortably around her body and doesn't fall off her shoulder all the time. She's had no problem with it with her FFP the last two years and the last few weekends of XX until last Sunday. Why is a barely 6" chain that dangerous? I guess some "security" at the front gates take their jobs way too seriously!

[Dave Moseley]

Dunno where to put this, so I'll put it here. The other night I saw a booth up where 21+ had to get a wristband to drink alcohol. Is that a new step from Universal to curb drinking, or is it a convenience thing so they wouldn't have to show their ID at every booth or something?

In my experience, neither. It's been there the last two years, and I'm still asked for ID at every bar.

[BabyFirefly]

Dunno where to put this, so I'll put it here. The other night I saw a booth up where 21+ had to get a wristband to drink alcohol. Is that a new step from Universal to curb drinking, or is it a convenience thing so they wouldn't have to show their ID at every booth or something?

I'm still scratching my head at the point of the wristbands. You still have to show your ID at every bar regardless if you are wearing a bracelet or not...so what is the point???

[Cramer]

I was thinking that maybe they were limiting drinks or something as an experiment, but I guess it's just....there. For no reason other than being there.

[Mae]

You know what I hate? People who sit in my chair and don't get up when I tell them to, leaving a coordinator to come over and chase them out. Would I tell you to not sit in my chair if I didn't mean it? I know this isn't a Universal rant, but my god, I get sick of doing this several times a night. I want a remote controlled joy buzzer.

That would be so cool!

Mae

[Mae]

ii still love HHN.

and i'll end on a positive note. Jim from Finnigans is the best bartender in florida. it's a little more expensive to drink in there... but you can taste (and feel) the difference!

Finnegans is the best. We go there almost every visit!

and i have a WHITE mohawk and will be traveling with an asian guy... scare me extra more when you see me... cause i love you guys.

Is your mohawk REALLY tall?

Mae

We saw some kid scale the fence towards the Hard Rock hotel to bypass security on Thursday night. He then walked over to the metal detectors to wait for his friends to make it through. What's the point of scrutinizing keys and buttons if they leave such gaping holes in security?

I've seen some people try to get in by climbing over things but they were always caught. I wonder how they missed this kid?

Mae

[MMAfreak]

So, time to rant about this years event. I'll go with bullet points:

-I got stuff behind a group of wannabe Jersey Shore boys at Legendary Truth and they then proceeded to sing the shots song throughout the house...

-Got stuck behind a group of young teens at Legendary truth the second day. It was either the punk boys who would grab stuff, sit on chairs, and try to punk out the scareactors, or the girls who made sure to scream extra loud and extra long to make sure everyone in the house knew THEY were being scared. Those girls hit a pitch where i though dogs would start to howl outside. Overall very annoying people

-Second day got stuck behind teenage boy and father at Psychoscareapy. Throughout the whole house, teenager made sure to point out every scareactor and yell "theres another one!" which seriously diminished how much my girlfriend got scared and how much i laughed, and the father made sure to grab EVERYTHING he could within the house

-I then proceeded to get stuck behind the same father/son duo the next freakin' house

-The expensive ass dinners i had to buy before we went into the park

-When i went to go see Brushwoods Malice show, the 2 people who sat right in from of us were wearing those f*cking flashing hats with those things hanging off of them. It was almost comical how it was just so in our face, but these people would not take the hats off, even as the show was starting. The woman took it after we had to ASK HER, but the man didnt. We then asked if the man would. She asked her husband too, he said no, and the subject was dropped between them. Not for the 15 people who were affected by the damn hat. It was literally in the face of my girlfriend. got so bad she had to sit in my lap for the performance. AS it went on, we started to chant under our breaths"Asshole, asshole, asshole" (eh, sometimes you gotta fight immaturity with immaturity) until finally the guy took it off, and i got the guy trying to punk me out and the woman giving me the dirty looks, but at that point the show was ending and i had missed half of it. Still annoyed

-The fact that i missed out on the Thursday night shows in the VIP room there. Sounded so awesome

-FEAR was really not all that great of an icon, really given no background, and it felt so last minute, lets-just-say-he-ties-them-all-together kinda thing

-I never got a picture with the wolfman over by the 20 years scarezome. The one picture i didnt get that night that i wanted, and it seriously is bumming me out

-The fact that my girlfriend told me to get a size small bill and ted tshirt since the medium looks huge and i finally get around to trying it on at home back in connecticut and it looks like body paint its so tight

-The fact that i really wasn't able to prepare for this year properly. I've been busy with college and 2 jobs to pay for this trip that i never got time to get psyched looked at the website and just feeling like i really wasn't fully ready for it. I didnt even know what the Coven and Saw'n'Steam were about until i got there. Really wish i had read up

=The VIP room was not an exclusive backroom dance with chance...kinda set the bar high there with expectations

[kimlovesfl]

You know what, I'm really glad security is being anal this year, because it can help avoid problems. While someone on here may never think of using a studded bracelet or a chain on a purse as a weapon, that doesn't mean someone else might not. I'd rather have them err on the side of caution.

[JDW]

While I somehwat agree with both sides... I would like them to be consistent... and they are far from it. If you don't want anything brought in then it should be clearly known and POSTED before even entering the metal detectors... But I have YET to see an official list of what can and cannot be brought... I have seen and been given contradicting information. I have also been told that ultimate decision on something goes to these contracted employess. Why do I become a target while others get in fine? The answer is it is a judgement call and there IS no set guideline.

Edited October 20, 2010 by JWFearman