Blacklagoontaylor's Review

[blacklagoontaylor]

I'm a little late to do this, but I attended last Sunday 10/21. My boyfriend and I had express, which was nice because we got there at 8 and the lines were all almost 120 mins. Also, they extended the hours to 2 am that night.

Silent Hill (6/10)

This was our first house around 8:15. The sets in here were gorgeous, but personally I only got one scare from the Bogeyman. It just didn't have the same energy as some of the other houses. I will have to give it up to Pyramid Head, he was really working for the scares.

Gothic (10/10)

I did the UTH tour before I went and just thought, "This will be an amazing house". It did not disappoint. Everyone in here was so high energy and really on top of the scares. The guy in the ceiling got me pretty good, along with my boyfriend. Also, I enjoyed the guy who was "flying" on the side. He definitely got my boyfriend distracted from the guy on the right behind the corner. The gargoyle who had a bungee (like the Forsaken last year) got me as well. I think the sets and scares in the house make it House of the Year material.

Dead End (7/10)

I also saw this house on the UTH tour and it was more helpful to learn the back story of the house so I could appreciate the house more instead of labeling it just a ghost house. The first ghost spooked my boyfriend a bit. The mannequin/fabric girl was highly effective, I didn't even see her until she scared me. I also got a scare from the 2 guys in the garden scene. I gave this house a 7 because I kind of knew where the scares would come from so I didn't get a whole lot. I think the energy was good in some parts of the house, while others fell flat.

Walking Dead (4/10)

I had such high hopes for this house being a fan of the show and I hate that it doesn't have some of the features of Hollywood's. I anticipated zombies everywhere but when we hit this around 10:15/10:30 it wasn't very full. My boyfriend got a scare when we were right after the department store where the dressing rooms are. I got zero scares in here probably due to the fact that we had a group of kids in front of us that were pretty easy targets. While I did appreciate the scenes in here, I just wish I could have seen more out of this house than I did.

Penn & Teller Newk'd Las Vegas (7/10)

I quite enjoyed this house. We hit it around 12ish. The guest activated triggers were fun and what not. I got a scare from the roman guards and the lights guy. The cut in half stripper was missing though, maybe a cast change? The clown at the end was also missing. I think this made for a good comedy house, but the 3D in my opinion was terrible! It didn't really change the house for me by wearing the glasses.

Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare (8/10)

We visited this house at about 12:30. The scareactors in this house were amazing! I was getting scares left and right. I loved the jock and the showman Alice as I believed he is called. I do not listen to a lot of Alice Cooper, so some of the stuff I didn't get as much, but I think the music was too low as well. I think if I did my research and listened to a few albums this would definitely be a 10/10.

House of Horrors (7/10)

I really liked the idea of a classic monster house and this delivered for the most part. We didn't get to this house till almost 1 am and since they extended hours, I'm assuming that was the reason for some actors missing. The actors that were there were great! I got a good Wolfman scare. I enjoyed the CFTBL room, but that's because it's a personal fave of mine. I thought the last room was good, but I think there were less actors, so I didn't get the full experience. I think that it was a great house even if it was thrown together last minute.

Street Experiences

Walkers: They were pretty good and blended well with the crowd. I got a scare from the one in the wheelchair.

Traditionals: Loved this group! They were excellent and the interaction was great. I think they were the most fun of the night.

Prisoners: They were very active in their scares. We were headed into P&T and I saw one of them crouching in a bush by the exit line for the house. It was awesome.

Vampires: I didn't personally receive any scares from them, but I think they were targeting other people.

Warriors: You guys were awesome! You guys got so into it with your scares. I was definitely impressed.

The Iniquitis were cool too and I didn't get to see the Beasts.

Bill and Ted was good, it's always cheesy so I don't think it's changed much from year's past. I think the Mad Men jokes were kind of lame, but that's just me. I think that it was worth seeing once, but not twice.

20 Penny Circus wasn't terrible. I think that for their first HHN they did well. The humor was a bit lacking, but I think they could improve if they were to come back again next year.

Overall, I think this year isn't my favorite compared to the past. I wish I could have seen more street experiences , but with what Universal had to work with I understand. I think the crowds were outrageous for a Sunday and with the lack of Jaws, that made it more crowded in the houses and streets. I also somewhat miss the old scarezones, but think if they could incorporate scarezones that are stationary and roaming that would be cool (probably challenging). I waited in the Express line for Gothic, Dead End, and Walking Dead longer than usual, but I would much rather have a 20-30 minute wait than 120 minute wait. I don't think that two parks is the answer to a better event because that would result in dead space and then people would complain about that. I think that hopefully the Transformers ride will be open next year for HHN, maybe the combo of stationary and roaming zones, and an 8th house could be some solutions to controlling the crowds a bit. I enjoyed this year and will be back as usual next year.

[JDW]

Great review. Yeah it was crazy Sunday... Hell week! (I was there and only did 4 houses by 10:00 pm when I left).

I definitely think it hurt my experience (based on the other 3 times I went) especially the streets. There were so many people at one point I had to hold my hands up to get through.

[blacklagoontaylor]

Yeah I forgot to take Hell Week into consideration but it was our anniversary so I figured why not. My street experience definitely suffered because of the large crowds, which I was bummed about. I can't imagine what it would be like the Saturday before where it sold out.