The Swim Team's Review

[Titanic SwimTeam]

Hey everyone,

This is my yearly review of Halloween Horror Nights 21. Just a little background information, we were a group of 10 and had the express pass so we were able to do everything. I guess there are a few spoilers in here.

We started this year differently and took a right instead of heading straight towards the soundstages.

The Foresaken:

I was really looking forward to towards this house. I thought the set was awesome. First I loved the feeling that you were in an old prison that was haunted. Second, the ship was awesome. My one problem is that I thought they could have easily used one of the bungee scareactors coming from above to really scare the crap out of people. I loved the effects of wind and rain. My location in the line was a little tough where I didn't get a single scare mainly due to the scare actors getting the people around me. Overall I liked the house as a starting point. It really gave me some hope for the year as a whole. Funniest part of the house was one of your actors actually broke character when my buddy used his wife a shield. Really funny when you told him that "very manly using a woman to protect you"

7/10

The In-between

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome 3-D. My brother-in-law and me walked out of this house saying that this is possibly one of the best houses Universal has done in a long time. First I was impressed that this house was able to be done in a tent. We were discussing on what if they had put this house in a sound stage. The sets were awesome. There was so much to look and allowed that scare actors to really sneak up on people. I was impressed with the rope room. Thought that was really cool. Great costumes and did get me twice.

9/10

Nevermore: The Madness of Poe

I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to this house. It came through on all levels. From the start of walking to Edgar's study to going through the Masque of Red Death and the final stage of the house in the library. This was great for a true Edgar Allen Poe fan. I did think the P&P room was lacking of scare actors. Seriously there was no one in there. Outside of that, I couldn't have thought of it any better. Sets were awesome. If i didn't have the express pass, this would be one of the houses that I would make sure I hit. This will be one of the houses that my group of friends will be talking about years to come.

10/10

Saws & Steams

It was pouring. We went into this house right after we got let out of Bill and Ted. I got to admit I can only use one word: Lame. I felt like I was walking through Body Collectors all over again. I did love the orginal Body Collectors, but Saws and Steams lacked people. We would walk through sections with absolutely no scare actors. I was always waiting for something intense to happen. The house had some possiblities but didn't come through. The other problem was that I was waiting for at least a chainsaw guy to chase you out at the end, and nothing. I will say that some of the people we were with said that they jumped a few times and didn't really like the guy carving the flesh off the bone. Just my experience and it just didn't come through

5/10

H.R. BloodeN Guts: Holidays of Horrors

This was one of the down part of having the express pass. I felt like you really need to stand in line and see the pre-show. We walked into the house within 2 minutes and I felt kinda lost. I loved the sets and I thought that the character of H.R. BloodenGuts was really cool. I just wish I knew more about him. I thought that this house was humorous and the ending with the elf with machine guns was funny. The scares were predictable, but every year Universal needs a change of pace house. I loved the variety of holidays, but I felt like I needed to know more as I entered each room. I did like the earth day(?) scene with the tree jumping out at you. Overall solid humor house, I did like Zombiegeddon a little better because I loved walking out into a scare zone.

7/10

The Thing

Again Universal, Awesome set. It definately gives you the feeling of being in the movie. With that being said, this house really lacked in the scare area. Again, we went through areas of the house with little to no scares. I loved the tunnel at the end which made me feel I was more in the movie Alien than the Thing. I felt that this should have been put in the same soundstage as the Winter's Night. Drop the temp way down in the soundstage and really give it the feeling of being in Antartica. This house had a great set, but failed in scares.

5/10

Nightingales: Blood Prey

THis was the second house that I was looking forward toward and it didn't disappoint. I will admit that I absolutely love World Was 1 and 2 stuff. I loved walking through the trenches feeling like I was deeply entrenched in the battle. This set was so awesome. Then the nurses were pretty intense. I did see them scare my brother-in-law really good, probably one of the best of the night that wasn't on me. I also loved the soldier with the machine gun and rounds being fired. I thought that this house delived on all levels. This house is definately in the top 10 houses during my going to Halloween Horror night (since 2003)

9/10

Winter's Night: The Haunting of Hawthorn Cemetary

I got to be fair, I grew up in northern ohio, I was hoping the soundstage was cold. There was a chill in the air, but it was not cold. Seriously drop it down another 20 degrees. Walking into the house, the statue got me. I almost jumped out of my skin, and told the scare actor that it was a really good scare. I loved walking through the cemetary, it really made me feel like I was walking outside. The only thing I wish they would have done was when you were walking through the hallway, one of the door should have opened and had someone pop out. I wish they would have had a few more scareactors throughout the whole house. This would have made the house make my top 3 of all time, but it will have to settle as a possible top 10.

10/10

Bill and Ted

Douche Canoe. We laughed about that phrase for over an hour. We referred to each other as a Douche Canoe for a while. Outside of this I really wish they would have made fun of the Royal Wedding a little more. Why not have a hot princess kate? also how can you not make fun of the Karadashins? I know they had one joke about them, but come on. Overall the show was funny. My dad like this year much better than last year. I thought it had its moments and I loved Chalie Sheen at the end. An above average year.

8/10

Scarezones.

I loved 7. Loved how the scareactors changed over the course of the night. I thought it was really cool to do the 7 deadly sins. After that I was disappointed with almost everything else. The visuals for the acid assault was pretty sick. But overall I just didn't like the scarezones this year. I felt like everything is just way too predictable. It goes back to when its was in IOA and scareactors were able to blend in better. I just hate that I can see everything as it is coming at me.

Overall:

This was a solid year. One of the best over the past few. I really thought the overall experience this year was much better than the year pass. I wish that we could have had the backstories going into each of the houses. I did miss the videos that are usually playing outside. Also, I liked the text trivia from last year. I really wish they would have given Lady Luck her own house. Just wish there were more scareactors in the houses, but it was a sunday night and it was rainy. With that being said, I really had a blast this year and overall there were some great improvements made. Great sets and great scares. Keep it up Universal, keep expanding. I would love to see them use part of IOA as well for the event. I know that a few people talk about the intense fans who hang out at the website and message boards want to have a backstory. But my group wanted the back stories of the houses. Maybe that could be the next text message part of the event. I give the event a solid 8/10. Great job scare actors.

[DiegoDrummer]

Must have been during Cast Changes.