HHN XX Rants

[atigeg]

I'll add to the gripe about no more Premier HHN valet. I don't care what it says on the pass, they let me do it for years. I always arrive before the event; how do they know I'm not just staying and hanging around CityWalk? I could see if there was an arrival time restriction, but this sudden change is just B.S. Besides, it says in my Premier benefits folder that I get unlimited Express after 4, and suddenly now it's a limit of one time per ride. They're just pulling stuff out of their butts and making it so I'll just end up getting a preferred.

I do get my revenge every HHN night tho'. As we take come in from the garage, I go down to valet and use my Premier to cover parking for whoever happens to be in line at that moment. Uni owes me the damn free parking on HHN days and they're going to give it to me one way or another (yes, I'm a vengeful bitch).

[The Wolf Man]

My rant for this year just involves obnoxious people. I have never encountered it personally before but this year I was on the receiving end and being a very argumentative person myself, it lasted a long time. As me and my partner were entering the "Express" line for Psychoscarepy we were shouted at by a "lady" - "HEY, don't cut in front of me" I turned to her and said "excuse me?". She then points out that there is a line and scum like me shouldn't cut in front of her! Now, upon entering the line area it was just one mass ball of people before the staff member checked my express pass. There was no straight line but people coming from all directions. Once the lady checked our Express passes it formed into a civil line. We didn't cut into the line at all but I have no doubt that this woman and her party heard my English accent and decided to pick a fight with us. It took nearly 20 minutes to get into the house and all during this time I had to endure "Why don't you fu*k off back to where you came from" "I've been coming here 20 years and this is my country" "I'm so going to get you kicked out of the park, oh just watch when we get up front" Anyway this continued and she even tried to incite the rest of the Americans in the queue with "USA, USA, USA". I told her that she simply is the only rude American I have ever met and she should be proud. When we got to the point of entering the house she said something to one of the staff members which was completely ignored because they didn't say anything to me but I asked if they could hold us back as her party were the rudest people I have ever met. The lady says "Sure, I get that A LOT"!

Anyway, I know that was long but just wanted to say its not only drunks who are rude this year! In an ironic twist of fate, as we were leaving Catacombs the party ahead were slow to a halt, I said "excuse me" and they apologised and let me through......... it was them!! Once we clocked what happened they looked angry and we just laughed and went about our night.

Oh and I agree, ops were way over the top this year.

[Troiandan]

My rant for this year just involves obnoxious people. I have never encountered it personally before but this year I was on the receiving end and being a very argumentative person myself, it lasted a long time. As me and my partner were entering the "Express" line for Psychoscarepy we were shouted at by a "lady" - "HEY, don't cut in front of me" I turned to her and said "excuse me?". She then points out that there is a line and scum like me shouldn't cut in front of her! Now, upon entering the line area it was just one mass ball of people before the staff member checked my express pass. There was no straight line but people coming from all directions. Once the lady checked our Express passes it formed into a civil line. We didn't cut into the line at all but I have no doubt that this woman and her party heard my English accent and decided to pick a fight with us. It took nearly 20 minutes to get into the house and all during this time I had to endure "Why don't you fu*k off back to where you came from" "I've been coming here 20 years and this is my country" "I'm so going to get you kicked out of the park, oh just watch when we get up front" Anyway this continued and she even tried to incite the rest of the Americans in the queue with "USA, USA, USA". I told her that she simply is the only rude American I have ever met and she should be proud. When we got to the point of entering the house she said something to one of the staff members which was completely ignored because they didn't say anything to me but I asked if they could hold us back as her party were the rudest people I have ever met. The lady says "Sure, I get that A LOT"!

Anyway, I know that was long but just wanted to say its not only drunks who are rude this year! In an ironic twist of fate, as we were leaving Catacombs the party ahead were slow to a halt, I said "excuse me" and they apologised and let me through......... it was them!! Once we clocked what happened they looked angry and we just laughed and went about our night.

Oh and I agree, ops were way over the top this year.

I'm so sorry you had to endure such nonsense. I've been blessed to meet delightful people from all around the world during my years living here, and it's always been a treat to interact with visitors from England - I've been able to meet a few at HHN this year already. Welcome and thank you for coming, and I hope the rest of your experiences are with fun and CIVILIZED people.

[Grime]

Agreed. People just become bigger douches every year. I blame the media and recent entertainment personally. I hope the world is proud of itself for making me decide to never have children because I would hate raising them in this world the way it is today. We're just getting closer and closer to that 2012 prophecy.

As for my rant, we were going through Zged the other night and 3 ops TMs IN A ROW were like "cmon guys keep the line moving lets go" because I was a mere 5 feet behind the group in front of us and was moving at a normal, steady pace like I was walking down the sidewalk. Get the fuck off of my back and let me walk through the fucking house. Just because I'm not grinding the dudes ass in front of me doesn't mean I need to move faster. It's like honking at a car that's slowing down because there's a red light coming up. You can honk all you want, but you're still going to have to stop at that red light. It doesn't mean you'll get to your destination any faster.

[Fallow]

Ops were a pain in the ass on 10/22. Flashlights should NOT be on just to "move us along". It was especially bad in Catacombs & Legednary Truth, as I recall - let me move at my pace and enjoy the house within reason. I'm not going to sprint, I'm going to keep ignoring you. I can't believe this is still a problem.

[LV-426]

I don't know... Sometimes the people working in the house are nice enough, they even smile and say welcome to the house, or enjoy your stay, when they see my camera out they tell me to put it away very nicely,

But the ones inside the house look so angry all the time, some of them look furious, and Yeah I was in Hallow'd past and I was Also like 5 feet away from the people in front of me, And every single one of them told me to Move forward, I just kept walking my normal walking speed, and In every room they told me /flash me, it wasn't until I was literally touching the back of the person in front of me that they stopped.

Also, it seems smoking is not a problem now? there has been a smoker almost in every line I went trough, and yeah people do that, but there were many times that they went past them and they didn't tell them to stop, the worst one was the line for legendary truth, 3 people were smoking behind me, we were near the entrance already, no one said anything. Same thing happened in Hades and Orfanage,

[keeper]

I don't know... Sometimes the people working in the house are nice enough, they even smile and say welcome to the house, or enjoy your stay, when they see my camera out they tell me to put it away very nicely,

But the ones inside the house look so angry all the time, some of them look furious, and Yeah I was in Hallow'd past and I was Also like 5 feet away from the people in front of me, And every single one of them told me to Move forward, I just kept walking my normal walking speed, and In every room they told me /flash me, it wasn't until I was literally touching the back of the person in front of me that they stopped.

Also, it seems smoking is not a problem now? there has been a smoker almost in every line I went trough, and yeah people do that, but there were many times that they went past them and they didn't tell them to stop, the worst one was the line for legendary truth, 3 people were smoking behind me, we were near the entrance already, no one said anything. Same thing happened in Hades and Orfanage,

OK smoking in Orfanage line is scarey stuff...way to close to that fire effect for my liking. I do agree it seems this is not a focus anymore. I remember in years past that there were more line ops that seemed were single focused on smoking and cutting in line. It seems that there have been cut backs in the number of line ops and that this is just not monitored like it used to be.

[atigeg]

I demand that Ops deal with smokers if I ask them to stop myself and get a hassle (and some of the drunk ones turn downright nasty).

This year I've chatted with way more nice and interesting people in line than assclowns, but it seems the ass population is growing as the event goes on. Not sure why, and it's sad to see. Last year the overall atmosphere were terrrible with drunks, jerks, etc. from day one so at least there was some relief this year.

Both at HHN and HoS I'm sick of the idiots who run into my back...I mean really run into it hard so it physically hurts, or stomp my feet, or do both. I'm fine with people who run up and grab me or hang onto me in a way that is not physically painful; I've had total strangers with a death grip on my shirt back for entire houses. But some seem to not care about bodyslamming or thing it's cute to run and shriek and crash into others. I had a group of squealy teen girls in Hallow'd the other day, and after the second hard smack, which left my back aching, I puched her good backwards the third time she hit me (gee, officer, something slammed me and caused intense pain so of course my instinctive reaction was to lash out in self protection) and whirled around and snapped in my most vicious voice, "You will stop that RIGHT NOW! I mean RIGHT NOW!" I'm only 5'2" but I'm from the South Side of Chicago and you can tell when it's time to stop crossing me. I yelled it so loud that the nearby Ops person heard it and pulled her idiot group aside. Dunno if he told them to knock it off or they figured I shouldn't be messed with, but they stayed the hell away for the rest of the house.

Similar thing in Nightshare last night at HoS, but it was a teenage boy who was smacking my back and trampling my feet. Finally I gave a light warning kick backwards, thinking he was maybe too drunk or stupid to realize he was hurting me. Nope, smacked me hard again, and I mule kicked him hard, whirled around and said, "That hurt, didn't it? What you're doing is hurting me so I suggest you knock it off." Once again, problem solved. It's like people don't learn empathy these days; you have to literally show them that their actions impact others and that you are ready, willing and able to impose consequences.

Edited October 24, 2010 by atigeg

[The Wolf Man]

I'm so sorry you had to endure such nonsense. I've been blessed to meet delightful people from all around the world during my years living here, and it's always been a treat to interact with visitors from England - I've been able to meet a few at HHN this year already. Welcome and thank you for coming, and I hope the rest of your experiences are with fun and CIVILIZED people.

Hey thanks but no need to apologise, it wasn't you! I hope and am sure it was just an isolated incident. I've been coming to America for a long time and only last year I spent 3 months in your beautiful country and this was seriously the only time I have ever had any rudeness from ANYONE. That is pretty good going. I was just shocked because it came from absolute nowhere and they just wouldn't listen to reason. We even let them step in front of us to calm them down but it was a waste of time.

We'll be back next year to have some more fun don't worry about that!

[JDW]

Agreed. People just become bigger douches every year. I blame the media and recent entertainment personally. I hope the world is proud of itself for making me decide to never have children because I would hate raising them in this world the way it is today.

I agree completely.

[scaredbenny]

For a first timer to the actual event this year, I guess this behavior seems normal to me at least, but still undesireable. I keep on thinking if Universal was somehow able to control this, this already amazing event IMO would be hands down the top halloween event in the world by far. Its really sad that some guests are just too focused on themselves and drawing attention to them that they forget other people are paying customers too and they are ruining experiences for them. For instance I can't wait for tonight to go into ZombieGeddon again finally without having a teenager riding my back the entire way thought (well hopefully that dosen't happen again, knock on wood)

[LV-426]

This is not a rant, But more like an observation of today, Something I found interesting, When the cast change for Hallow'd past happened, and the actors were coming out of the house

I was in the line for Catacombs, and there was a girl yelling, No Taking Pictures of The Actors!!! I was just surprised that she was really on top of it, I wonder why, This is the first year and first time this happens

[scaredbenny]

OK, rant that is starting to get on my nerves a bit. These so called, well i'm going to name them, "drinking pits" at the beginning of the houses. I'm talking about the people who OPs are directing to basically stand by the side of the house entrances to finish their drinks rather than throw them out. Not talking aout entrances to the lines but the actual houses. OK, I understand you just got your drink and want to finish it but when there is about 20 people standing around drinking and basically blocking the entrance like what happened to me tonight at the Orfanage and the OPs person is just kinda looking the other way its too much. Of course when I was just about to enter the house about 10 of them decided they were finished and it was time to enter which of course meant that because they had been waiting they all needed to elbow and shove me out of the way from the entrance. Sigh. They really need to be strict, if your not finished with your drink too bad, throw it out, the entrances are supposed to be mood setting and its hard to get in the mood for a house when happy hour is going on 5 feet away. End of rant.

[LV-426]

OK, rant that is starting to get on my nerves a bit. These so called, well i'm going to name them, "drinking pits" at the beginning of the houses. I'm talking about the people who OPs are directing to basically stand by the side of the house entrances to finish their drinks rather than throw them out. Not talking aout entrances to the lines but the actual houses. OK, I understand you just got your drink and want to finish it but when there is about 20 people standing around drinking and basically blocking the entrance like what happened to me tonight at the Orfanage and the OPs person is just kinda looking the other way its too much. Of course when I was just about to enter the house about 10 of them decided they were finished and it was time to enter which of course meant that because they had been waiting they all needed to elbow and shove me out of the way from the entrance. Sigh. They really need to be strict, if your not finished with your drink too bad, throw it out, the entrances are supposed to be mood setting and its hard to get in the mood for a house when happy hour is going on 5 feet away. End of rant.

that happens a lot, like really a lot of times, But almost all of the times I see this happened, the people drinking always let the people behind them pass by, I have never seen someone finishing their drink but stopping the line at the same time in front of me, Thank God, But the thing is that, The people drinking and letting them pass is one thing, But I have never seen the ops tell people they can go, they just look around, What happened to you sounds bad, if they elbow me and pushed me, that would made me furious, I think they should really take the people aside so that they finish, not ask them to finish while being in line,

the one thing that did piss me off once was that I was waiting and the people in the express line were finishing their drinks, so Both lines were stopped, The normal line was stopped for the express, but the express had like 5 people drinking, everyone was just standing in both lines while the people finished, they also had the flashing lights,

Edited October 25, 2010 by black7mask

[atigeg]

This isn't really a rant, but a puzzlement. Yesterday I spent most of one of my run-throughs of Hades with a total stranger glued to my shoulder. She wasn't hurting me or anything. She just was totally freaking out. She'd scream, run up beside me, grab me for a while, let go, and then the whole cycle would start again. She was an adult, with a group of other adults, so here is my puzzlement: First, if you're obviously that scared, why go into the houses? Why not just wait outside for your group, or not go to the event at all? Second, why take the lead? You'd think she'd want the safety of being in the middle of her group and have people she knows to grab onto. She wasn't really obnoxious...more like funny...but it just seems odd to me that someone would torture themselves. I was sure she was going to wet herself before the end of the house.

And speaking of wetting, this IS a rant: Since when did the Zombie express line behind the Beetlejuice theater become an impromptu urinal? We saw one guy go back there to pee (where that big equipment thing is). I know what he did because he was drunk and announced it loudly to the world. Then I saw a second one a few days later get kicked out by Ops, apparently as he was about to unzipper. Is it really so hard just to use a bathroom before you get in line?

As for the debate on what you can and cannot bring in, just go for Stay and Scream and you can bring in an entire arsenal, as long as it fits in your pockets. There is no metal detector recheck once you're in the park and inside a holding pen so just get a day ticket, wear cargo pants and go before five if you want to bring lethal pins, mace, knives, guns, nucleaar devices etc.

[Prometheus]

We just got back from a great few days out in Orlando, we saw lots of our Vault/HNN folks representing, so that was cool. There was a group of about 6 or 7 people in the holding area near the mummy for Stay and Scream on Friday night that we saw, wish we would have said hey, but they looked like they were having a great time.

Anyway, the event was an absolute blast, I just have to add to the chorus of voices here, who have complained about overzealous OPS in the houses. We talked to one of the stage managers over at the soundstage houses after a couple of really bad experience elsewhere in the park. He was actually not on the OPS side, but on the creative side and we just really wanted him to know how much we enjoy the event, and how we travel a few thousand miles every year to see these amazing works of art, how disappointing it was to have that enjoyment diminished significantly by overzealous OPS. He told us creative and OPS really struggle to find a balance, but that if you are enjoying the houses as long as you are not just flat out stopping in the houses, that OPS folks should not be yelling at customers and shining lights in peoples faces, just because of a break in the line. At Horror Nights the Hallow'd Past, they were pulsing the line and the OPS were still yelling at folks on Thursday for not being toe to heel.

So a huge thanks to the awesome gentleman who pulled our night out of the tank. Just like the stage manager asked us to do, please make sure you are filling out evaluation forms at the end of the night, and politely and respectfully ask the OPS folks to remember we are customers and pay a lot of money to enjoy the houses. /rant

Edited October 25, 2010 by Prometheus

[Neko]

Alright...quick rant about an Ops last night, but also a rave about one so I guess I'm equal opportunity.

Two EXTREMELY drunk women we're in front of us for the LT house. Now, I know there is drinking at HHN and I know some people who overdo it, but these women were stumbling, fall down, a danger to themselves and others drunk and hanging all over each other. It was completely obvious the shape they were in, which was no shape to be going into one of these houses. My party looked at the ops guy up front and gave a "should they really be going in this house?" and he just looked at us and sort of shrugged and with that we had to keep moving.

Well, you can imagine the scene inside, and at least a couple times I was almost taken out by the drunker of the two falling back in my direction or one time she tried to stumble the other way and almost knocked me into the wall. One of my party notified an Ops who proceeded to follow them through the rest of the house, during which time one of them hung on him, and hung on a scareactor "statue" in the statue room, attempted to grab a couple of them, dropped her purse and almost collapsed bending down to get it, etc, etc. It was not a pretty site nor a safe one for the guests and scareactors around them. Orange Co. PD was at the outside and I believe they took them off somewhere. Really, they were in that bad of shape. I had never seen anyone that f-ed up before being allowed into a house in the five years I've gone. When we got out of the house, the Ops that escorted them out let us go through again because following that and having to play "dodge the drunk" really ruined our whole trip through. So to that guy, I say thanks. (and to the chair scareactor who just waved at us when we went through the second time, that cracked me up...probably thinking he had just saw us...how were we going through again already, lol)

[Stephanie]

Here's a 'rant' I guess. I understand security and staff members want to make sure there is no underaged drinking. I just get extremely annoyed that I cannot enjoy a scarezone with a blinky cup in my hand because I am constantly being carded. Also, when I am carded (although I HAVE the wristband that states I am old enough to buy alcohol) they look at my ID to make sure it's not fake. Like, they stare that thing down for minutes. I know I look like a freshman in high school, but it is aggravating.

[DesertBear]

Just to blow off some steam. Universal needs to address how security policies are enforce since it is not uniformed. I'm a passholder and frequent Universal guest for the past few years and I have not once had to take my camera out of its bag, since it is fairly snug, until the Sunday October 24th when a security team member told me to take it completely out of its bag, for the first time ever, even though you can see that nothing else was inside the bag. The messed up part was that she didn't even check the other pockets of the camera bag and they didn't even check the bag at the gate. Because of this my friends that was with me were offended and spent less because it and thought that she was being anal about it. To bad it only takes one bad apple or few bad apples to ruin it for the guest(s) and the rest of the good team members. Granted that everyone is allowed to have a bad day but when you work with the public you need to control it as the public is paying you and if they spend less then that means less money for you in the long run.

[Tman875]

This is going to be a scaractor-side rant.....just so you know!

[RANT]

I am way over guests coming through my hallway sticking their hands into/through my boo-hole or touching my curtain or pulling it back and looking at me or guests who think they should/will ever scare the scareactor. You pulled my curtain back and see me.....Good For You!!!! Do you want a medal or applause??? What did you expect to see...me picking my nose or standing on my head??? Most boo-holes are apparent, so why feel the need to do that?!? My point is.....just walk!!!! In what alternate universe is it accepted to push/kick a door that is closed? My girlfriend had her hand fractured by a guest who thought it would be okay to do just that to a closed door that she happened to be standing behind waiting for the idiots to pass.

If anyone has walked through my scene and seen me work, you will know that I am out and back very quickly and so you saying "Boo!" or "Ahhhh!" won't get a reaction out of me. So, Mr. "I scared him", you didn't and you would have known that if you would have looked back as you left the room and seen me scare again. Also, you putting your hand on any part of my curtain will only make me stop abruptly because I don't want to plow into you or be harmed...not because you scared me.

Finally, no one person should have to carry any scene occupied by multiple scareactors!

[/RANT]

Edited October 28, 2010 by Tman875

[DevanLee]

Just because I need a place to vent. I have a FFP and I love my trips every Sunday, but I have never dealt with such rude, obnoxious and just plain awful kids, even adults like I have this year. I went the 24th, and ended up leaving at 8pm because I was just not able to enjoy the event at all. Granted, I didn't know schools were out on Monday and that's what made the crowd so huge, but I just don't understand who these people think they are. I am only 5'1 and pretty much defenseless and it takes A LOT to get me mad, but I get into the park and get into the LT line and this group of kids behind us would not stop shoving me, stepping on my feet and yelling in my ear (when the line wasn't even moving) and it took them practically knocking me on the ground for me to raise my voice to them. This is just one example, but I've dealt with this a lot this year. I feel so bad for scareactors and the way these people yell in their face, get in their booholes, try to "scare" them. I know alcohol brings in a lot of money for the event, but from what I've seen this year it's just getting worse and worse. OH, and since when did it become funny to shove the fence knowing there were people on the other side of it waiting in line??? Sigh.

Rant over

[atigeg]

People actually seemed much less obnoxious earlier in the year. This past Sunday and yesterday (Weds.) seemed to be "Jerks Get In Free" days. I was shocked at the drunk level for a Weds. The house atmosphere were sucky too...not the scareactors, but the guests, most of whom either seemed bored and not in the mood to be scared or who felt lik touching everything, looking into boo holes and trying to scare the scareactors. I really miss the atmosphere of the earlier season.

[Cramer]

Just because I need a place to vent. I have a FFP and I love my trips every Sunday, but I have never dealt with such rude, obnoxious and just plain awful kids, even adults like I have this year. I went the 24th, and ended up leaving at 8pm because I was just not able to enjoy the event at all. Granted, I didn't know schools were out on Monday and that's what made the crowd so huge, but I just don't understand who these people think they are. I am only 5'1 and pretty much defenseless and it takes A LOT to get me mad, but I get into the park and get into the LT line and this group of kids behind us would not stop shoving me, stepping on my feet and yelling in my ear (when the line wasn't even moving) and it took them practically knocking me on the ground for me to raise my voice to them. This is just one example, but I've dealt with this a lot this year. I feel so bad for scareactors and the way these people yell in their face, get in their booholes, try to "scare" them. I know alcohol brings in a lot of money for the event, but from what I've seen this year it's just getting worse and worse. OH, and since when did it become funny to shove the fence knowing there were people on the other side of it waiting in line??? Sigh.

Rant over

Those fence shovers piss me off too. It's always some morons who think that they're scaring someone, when really they're just being annoying. The last night I came (the previous Thursday), I was already in a bad mood from the morons I went to the event with, and a fence shover, with those glowing horns no less, pissed me off as I was leaving LT. So I snapped, and shouted "OH HEY, LOOK A BUNCH OF IMMATURE LITTLE DOUCHE BAGS THINK THAT THEY CAN SCARE US WITH A FENCE, BRAVO! BRAVO! HOPE THEY GET ENOUGH SLEEP TONIGHT FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL TOMORROW" or something to that extent. I heard a bunch of what had to be either tween or young teen girls laughing, and walked off angrily before I realized what I had done. Had I planned it out better, I would have been funnier or more insulting, but omg children.....give it a rest. You're not getting payed to scare people, and honestly you're not very scary, just annoying. And in my case, frustrating. They should take the fabric off of the fences so we can see the morons behind them....they wouldn't want to shove the fences at that point.

The funny thing is, this happened to me at Busch Gardens HOS too, except they don't have fences in their lines. If anybody is familiar with the park, they allow you to walk through the train station foyer to get from point A to point B, and it's completely dark. The first time through, a shadowy figure jumps out and makes me jump. Nice scare, I thought to myself. Second time through, the scarezones are closed, and I know this. This annoying little ten or eleven year old pops out, and after realizing that I didn't jump, FOLLOWS me, trying to get a scare out of me. Are you friggin serious?! Sorry but a pipsqueak who hasn't hit puberty yet trying to talk in a creep voice just isn't creepy.

Anyhow, moral of the story is, both events bring douche bags. The worst are the ones who think that they are scary as well.

[Jakemeister]

Someone jumped on the fence while I was in Catacombs and I just gave them the most sarcastic and stupid laugh and I was just like "Ah yah got me." I'm guessing they got the point of them being and idiot because I got a "Fuck you." yelled at me. *shrugs*

[Cramer]

Someone jumped on the fence while I was in Catacombs and I just gave them the most sarcastic and stupid laugh and I was just like "Ah yah got me." I'm guessing they got the point of them being and idiot because I got a "Fuck you." yelled at me. *shrugs*

Yeah, that's the only insult they know, other than a few "Your mother" jokes. Usually when they yell that all-soul-crushing insult at me, I yell back "Oh my God, I love you too! Will you have my babies?" It always seems to get their panties in a bunch.