cwoolboy Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 This year I decided to hang with some new friends: Sissy (a cute girl that considers me her big brother, hence her nickname), Schweet (a cool dude), Invisible Man (IM for short, he's very quiet), and Horndog (my partner in crime, one of my bros up at college). So we entered the gates at around 6:45 and walked right into the Chainsaw Drill Team all dressed up in camo. Sissy freaked and immeadietly wrapped her arms around me and Horndog. I wanted to stay there to see what they would do but the rest of the group decided this would be a bad idea so instead we made our way over to HHN 20 years of Fear. This is a pretty neat scarezone set up to resemble the HHN props warehouse. Once inside the area (With sissy still wrapped around me and horndog, my arm was wrapped around her waist and I would allow her to squeeze my left hand at odd intervals) we ran right into some of my favorite characters from past years including Wolfman, Frankenstein, and some chainsaw Dudes. They quickly chased us out of that zone and right into Fear Revealed. Fear Revealed is mainly a zone set up to introduce guests to the God of Fear himself: Adaru. Now, I had my doubts about how this character would end up looking but Uni. did a bang-up job with him. Adaru towers above evryone else in the zone and is truly an imposing figure to approach. I snapped a few photos before we moved on to our first house of the night: Horror Nights The Hallow'd Past. This house ranks in at the number 4 spot for the night. It's got a really neat set-up. the theme is that we have just entered the props warehouse for HHN, and something appears to be amiss inside. Our first clue is that the electricity appears to be out as we pass by props from previous years, our 2nd clue would be when we enter a swirling vortex to find ourselves smack dab in the middle of an alternate universe where memorable scenes from past houses come to life. This house had quite a few great scares. One time some dude jumped out into my path, Me, Sissy and Horndog were essentially tyed together (Sissy was in the middle of us and had her arms wrapped around both of us), so when I jumped to the side of the dude to avoid running into him my action resulted with Horndog having his leg rammed into one of the steel poles. He continued to complain about his leg for the rest of the night. The most memorable scenes were the warehouse scenes for all the cool props and characters that you encounter throughout them (especially liked the final warehouse scene where the warehouse had essentially come to life). Despite the cool factor in this house I still feel like they may have crammed too much into one house. After all the screaming and running we did in the Hallow'd Past Sissy decided she needed a break so Horndog and IM took her on the Jaws Ride at Night while Schweet and I hit The Orfanage: ashes to ashes. This was my least favorite house of the night, ranking in at number 8. The theme here is that of a burned down orfanage where one of the previously unseen characters of the past; Cindy; has taken over. the result is a few fire effects, the constant scent of burning wood (and flesh?), and some freaky orphans attacking you. While Schweet liked it I felt that it was very poorly themed and just wasn't scary enough for me. After this Schweet and I hit the Jaws ride. During Halloween Horror Nights they have intensified the effects and brought back the much missed ring of fire effect at the exploding gas dock scene (right before the finale). So, if you want to see the Jaws ride in its full Bad-ass glory then HHN is the time to give it another try. Schweet and I both gave it 2 thumbs up. Shortly after getting off the ride we hooked back up with Horndog, IM and Sissy and traveled onwards, running right into Zombie Gras. Zombie Gras is a cool little zone themed to a Mardi Gras parade that has fallen victim to a zombie outbreak. There are tons of cool zombies to mess with here. it's not a very scary zone per say but I did get a few good jump scares here. After Zombie Gras we hit the next house in sight: Zombiegeddon. The story here is that the US has been hit pretty hard by the North American Zombie Virus, luckily most of the zombies have been killed or captured and the US is now hiring independent companies to help clean up the remainding zombies. One of the companies is a low-tech one named Z.A.P (short for Zombie Awareness Program), a group of bad-ass zombie killers that have taken it upon themselves to teach civilians the proper zombie killing methods. We are about to enter one of their civilian training facilities named Z.I.P where hoards of zombies have been pacified by the use of some clunky collars and are now being used for training purposes. With Sissy securely fastened to me and Horndog's waists we entered the facility. The facade is pretty cool. It is a very industrial looking street that leads into the entrance to the facility. Once inside we run into one of the Z.A.P members that is coaching us on proper zombie killing methods. All seems fine for the first 2 or 3 rooms, but during the 4th room we can make out the image of a parade float (apparently there was a celebration going on outside) crashing into one of the walls of the Z.I.P Facility. There is the silhouette of flames, we canb hear screams of people outside. The lights flicker and we can hear the terrifying sound of the electricity going out completely and the lights go black. The collars keeping the zombies pacified now off, the zombies bare able to break free of their restraints and terrify the innocent civulians inside. Sissy didn't do so well in this house, she was freakin out quite a bit (This is where I would allow her to squeeze the crap out of my left hand). Despite her freakin out she still made it out ok (THANK GOD). I thought this house a nice effort on Uni.'s part and I loved all the different zombie references found inside. With this said I still felt that there was something missing and that is why the house ranks in at the Number 6 spot. Once we had escaped from Zombiegeddon, we stopped for a quick bite to eat. Afterwards we decided to hit the Saws N Steam Scarezone. Sissy wrapped herself around Horndog and I and refused to enter the scarezone so we left her with IM and Schweet as we ventured further into it. I love the story here, the citizens of a small town have lost their minds when sea vents open up under their home and turn the place into a scorching hot foggy zone devoid of water. Once you enter the citizens turn their sights on you, the water in your body now a coveted resources that they will do anything to get. I later revisited this scarezone several times. this is where I met C_D and Giant (Friends of mine from a forum we belong to). Giant quickly responded when I called out his name, charging forth to block my way. I smoved back a step...he didn't have to do anything to scare me, his size doing the job for him. It took C_D a few minutes to respond to his name, but when he did it nearly sent me running. He put his chainsaw against my leg and revved it up (I was wearing jeans) and then proceeded to circle me. Overall this scarezone was very fun and is a definite DO-NOT-MISS for it's inventive use of Sting Alley (All fogged up with random mists of water spraying guests) and the look of the scareactors that inhabit (STEAMPUNK FTW!!!) After Saws N Steam Horndog, Schweet and I split up from Sissy and IM as they went to go rife The Mummy and my group decided to go hit more haunted houses. The next Haunted house we decided to hit was Hades: Gates of Ruin. In this house the theme is that we are traveling into the depths of the greek mythological version of Hell. Inside you run into Medusa, Cyclops, Minotaurs (I pointed one out before he had time to make a scare so he ran up to the corner I was aquickly approaching and exacted his revenge on me....LESSON LEARNED), and other mythological creatures that you may or may not recognize. The facade here was pretty neat, It's set up so that you're entering through the mouth of a skull that has fog pouring out its nostrils. Once inside there is no safety to be found as the citizens of this mythological hell come after you from all angles. I highly enjoyed getting to visit some of my favorite mythological characters (and having them scare the snot out of me). The atmosphere found inside is also very neat with it's fiery look, cavernous setting, and neat set-pieces (In one area your vision is encompassed by a thick fog, truly creepy as you wait for the next unavoidable scare). This house ranks in at the number 2 spot. The next house we hit was Legendary truth: The Wyandot Estate. This house is themed to a paranormal research teams (picture Ghost Hunters TV show)investigation into the very much haunted Wyandot house. Here we are invited to join the team as honorary members as we help them dig into the house's storied past and uncover the mystery surrounding the house. This haunted house was highly built up by Universal as having some cool effects never before seen in a haunted house. Some of these effects include a ghost sliding underneath the floor, skating past behind a wall, some items coming to life, lights flickering, and some low-key anamatronics. the house I feel relys too much on its effects and not enough on its actors ability to scare guests, and while the effects ARE pretty cool I feel that this was the wrong decision. It's still a fun little house that is pretty beat to walk-though (The facade is the best one of the night, you enter the house from the outside, up its steps, right into its front door...I spazzed out). this one ranks in at number 5. Once out of LT we decided to take a jog through The Coven scarezone. Once entering the first thing you will notice are the burning figures of puritan men roped up on stakes beneath fire pits. As you continue on through the zone you will see some hot witches roaming around but beware for in dark corners lurk ugly hags that like to surprise unwitting guests (I wanted to tell one of the hot ones to take alook because that will be her in 30 years...Never got a chance to say this though ). In this zone I got to complement a hag on the eyeball she was carrying (This apparently got her to give props to me since she pointed at me and gave me a sign I took to mean that she agreed). Near the end a small witch scared me...the scare didn't last long once I realized the scareactor was a midget...All I could say was ohhhh...so cute. Overall while the scarezone isn't long or eleaborate it's still pretty cool and can hold a few good scares. After we had exited the Coven we decided to hit up The Catacombs: Black Death Rising. The story here is that in 19th century France a nasty plague popped up and started infecting people. The infected were quarantined in a catacomb and Plague Doctors (people wearing long back robes, goggles, and bird masks) went inside to watch over them. Unfortunately the townspeople panicked and locked the infected and the plague doctors inside the catacombs. Several hundred years later we are part of an excavation crew that is clearing out the catacombs only to discover that the infected and the plague doctors never died and that the plague they carry is still very much contagious. The whole house is pretty awesome, the setting is one of the best parts. It really does feel like you are traveling through a real catacombs. I felt that the best part of the house were the tottally rad Plague doctors (I love how they look!!!). 2 doctors teamed up to make me do the scared mans limbo. they reached their hands out to block my path which resulted in me having to duck and weave to avoid hitting them. this house ranks in at the number 3 spot. After Catacombs we ran ahead to hit Havoc: Dogs of War. the theme here is that the military has been conducting tests at their Shadowcreek facility of a gas that will turn their soldiers into super-soldiers. Unfortunately they find that the gas works a little too well, turning them into adrenaline and rage filled monsters. When a gas leak occurs all hell breaks loose as the experiments break free to terrorize the civilians (us) that are touring the facility. The whole house is sensory overload and has an adrenaline filled pace as the supersoldiers burst out of corners and walls to attack us. Throughout the whole house sirens are going off like crazy, alerting us almost immeadietly that we chose the wrong time to enter Shadowcreek. There are bursts of air that blast us at random intervals, helping to keep us off guard throughout the entire house and helping the scareactors jobs that much easier. There are several really neat surprises that KO'd my butt on several occasions including a surprise chainsaw and machine gun scare. All the scareactors in the house were required to shave their heads for their roles, going to show their immense commitment to the art of the scare. This is the most intense house I have seen in all my 3 years attending Halloween Horror Nights and that makes it the number 1 spot on my top houses list. After Havoc we ran over to Psychoscarepy: Echoes of Shadybrook. For the most part the Psychoscarepy houses have been the humorous ones but this year Uni. decided to switch things up and give PS a more serious and bleak overtone. Shadowbrook, the infamous mental institution, has been closed for 15 years. We, being the hoodlums that we are cut our wy through the wire fence and make our entrance into the facility. Once inside we make the startling revelation that even though Shadowbrook has been closed for a while now, the ghosts of past residents still remain inside. the facade is the same as the original PS house, except with the addition of a run-down paint job and a wirefence we must make our way through in order to gain admittance (a neat addition). The scareactors do a pretty good job here, and although scary also have some sympathy factor since they are tortured souls. My favorite scene is the 2nd one where 2 crazies are running outside some windows during a lightning storm. It makes for a somewhat memorable house, ranking in at the number 7 spot. After Psychoscarepy Horndog, Schweet and I realized it was almost time for us to meet up at the van for our departure back to my college so we made our way back to the entrance of the park, stopping by at Esqueleto Muerte. This is a blacklight scarezone that is themed to the mexican Day of the Dead festival. while the blacklighting is cool, it's not when most of the scareactors are busy stopping for pictures. Only one tried to scare Horndog when his back was turned. he didn't even acknowledge her which was hilarious. after this we mwet back up with Sissy (I gave her a huge hug and was glad to see she made it out in one piece) and IM and togther we headed onto the van which drove us back to the apartments. So is Halloween Horror Nights 20 better than previous years???? Well, I felt that last year was scarier to be honest (maybe it's because it was basically just me and another person last year whereas this year I had a group of people and the added bonus of a girl clinging onto me...which usually helps to lightly diminish the scare factor of any house or scarezone) but scarier doesn't always mean better. 20 was better themed than last year's and I had more fun than I did last year...so in my opinion : yes, HHN 20 was better than previous years I've seen. So this year I got hug a cute girl to me for the first few houses, got to hang with some REAL friends, and got to hit all the houses and scarezones in one night. Yeah, I'd have to say that HHN 20 was a HUGE success. Till Next year, this is Beetle signing off from the scare central. HOUSE RANKINGS 1. HAVOC: DOGS OF WAR 2. HADES: GATES OF RUIN 3. CATACOMBS: BLACK DEATH RISING 4. HORROR NIGHTS: THE HALLOW'D PAST 5. LEGENDARY TRUTH: THE WYANDOT ESTATE 6. ZOMBIEGEDDON 7. PSYCHOSCAREPY: ECHOES OF SHADYBROOK 8. THE ORFANAGE: ASHES TO ASHES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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