Stitch's First Ever HHN Hollywood Experience & Review

[Stitch_101]

So we finally made it back from our week in Hollywood and I thought I'd share our first ever experience at HHN Hollywood. We attended Halloween night, and in a nut shell, we had a blast. Partially due to the VIP experience, it was of the more enjoyable HHN's I have attended. So I guess it's on to the night. 

We arrived at the park shortly before 6, went through security and got our VIP credentials and made our way in and lounged near the VIP experience entrance. Our backlot tour was booked to leave at 7 from there. We realized a little while into waiting that they were going to do the opening ceremonies around 6:40, so rushed down to watch it before coming back up to meet for our backlot tour. I was really glad we didn't miss it.

The backlot tour was fun. Our guide Jon really played up the cheese of it all and that just made it all that much more funny and enjoyable, instead of eye rolling territory it could have crossed into. We did get to do Kong 360, and got out and walked up and around Amity. The ghost stories and such were forgettable, but the whole group was laughing and enjoying themselves. After we were back on the tram they took us on over to the start of Terror Tram.

Terror Tram: I must say, after reading much of what has been said about the Terror Tram, I had to manage and lower my expectations going into it being a newbie. I'm glad I did, because had I not I would have probably been even more disappointed then I was. Firstly, this was my first visit ever to Universal Hollywood... So I will say there was a thrill of getting to walk pass the Bates Motel and through the WOTW set... But sadly that was the only thrill I got. Crowd control on the tram was a huge issue, as it seemed the majority of the time I was waiting in a zombie themed queue line instead of walking through a haunted attraction. Which brings me to my second complaint, the lack of talent on the tram. At Bates Motel, there were 3 scare actors, 2 of which where behind the temp fence who would just bang on the fences. That left one actual walker interacting with the crowd. It was almost the same with the WOTW set. I encountered only 4 walkers in this area. The slow crawl of a line and lack of talent really deterred from what I'm sure could be a great attraction. We did not repeat the Terror Tram. My final score:

Design: 2.5 out of 5

Scare Factor: 1 out of 5

Final Score: 1.5 out of 5

After our backlot tour and trekking through the Terror Tram, it was around 8pm, so we decided to head to the VIP lounge an grab some dinner. The food was great, and there was great variety from finger foods, sandwiches, Italian pastas, even BBQ. We ate very well. Now my only complaint about the VIP lounge and possibly the VIP Experience as a whole, was the capacity. We arrived at the lounge a little over an hour after the park opened and there wasn't a single table open, including the standing tables out on the porches. There was a line of people still coming in behind us at the Buffett who would also have trouble finding places to sit. The VIP experience was great, but if Universal is going to sell so many tickets for any given night, they need to have a lounge better equipped to seat that crowd. That is probably my only complaint of my VIP experience of the night.

So after eating, around 8:35, we decided to jump head first into the mazes with Alice Cooper, who's queue entrance was right next to the VIP lounge.

Alice Cooper: I loved the facade and thought it was very well done but the maze a whole was a mixed bag for me. This was one of only 2 mazes (the other being UMR) that we did not repeat, so sadly I never got to tell if maybe some of my complaints were fixed during the night. I loved the concept of the maze, and even loved some of the scenes, like wrath and lust (the lust girls were great fun and messed with my partner big time... Cudos to them). Others I felt could have been done better, like gluttony, for while it did represent the sin, it was identical to a scene I had seen in a haunted last year in San Diego. While I'm sure it was just coincidence, it did take me out of the moment. The talent was also off and on. Like I said, the lust girls were great, but other areas like pride seemed to be lacking. Overall the maze was fun for what it was, but never really scared and for me there was very little, aside from spurts of creativity, that stood out at the end. My Final Score:

Design: 3.5

Scare Factor: 2

Final Score: 2.5

After we left Alice, we decided to hit up The Walking Dead maze, as this was for both of us the most anticipated maze of the night. It did not disappoint.

The Walking Dead: I can't give this maze enough praise. I loved the facade and the van walker scare the crap out of us. It was a great way to start the maze. The design of the maze was top notch and represented many of the iconic scenes from the show perfectly. But for me it was the talent that brought this maze to life. The scareactors were aggressive and relentless and provided some absolutely great scares. We repeated The Walking Dead two more times over the night, and each time they still managed to scare us in new and unexpected ways. One of the highlights of the night. Final Score:

Design: 4.5 out of 5

Scare Factor: 4.5 out of 5

Final Score: 4.5 out of 5

After The Walking Dead, it was still early in the night at around 9:05. We decided to walk over to the gift shop and pick up a t-shirt. At about 9:20 we walking into UMR.

Universal Monsters Remixed: Ok, so  like the Terror Tram, I am reviewing this as someone who has never been through even the year round HoH. As such, I will say that a lot of design in HoH is incredible. Frankenstein's laboratory about took my breath away. At the same time, many of what I assumed were the year round special effects seemed very dated. The whole dance club/party theme overlay to the maze did not really seem to fit at all. The club style lighting ruined the atmosphere of what could have been very moody and creepy locations and many of the actors during our visit just danced a bit in plan sight before lunging a little at you. I can see a lot of potential for a great overlay for HoH, but this year liked a very misguided attempt. Oh, and it probably didn't help that I HATE dubstep music. My Final Score:

Design: 4 (probably a little high because it was my first HoH experience.)

Scare Factor: 1.5

Final Score: 2 (Loved the HoH sets, but the overlay theme was horrid.)

Got done with UMR and it was around 9:30-9:35. We walked over to La Llorona. Before I begin my review for La Llorona, I must get a small side story about the maze out of the way: We went through La Llorona 2 times during the night, the first of which was excellent, and the second of which was ruined by two girls who thought it was fun to make HIGHLY inappropriate jokes about scenes and actors in the maze. While it did deter from the maze for us, it was our second go around so we already got to experience the maze how it was meant to be. We did feel bad for the couple behind us however, who increasingly got upset and angry that the other girls were ruining the experience for them after they waited over an hour and a half to go through. My review here will only be reflecting the first walk through we had that night.

La Llorona: La Llorona was one of mazes I was excited about seeing, especially after the first was so well received last year. The facade was hands down the most impressive of all the mazes for me, and the sets and artistic design through out were completely top notch! Detail wise, and my partner agreed, La Llorona was the most visually impressive maze. The scares mostly worked, however we did catch a couple scares resetting, like the La Llorona scare after the bridge at the pond. These instances were rare however and didn't ruin the experience. La Llorona turned into another one of the nights highlights for us. Final Score:

Design: 5

Scare Factor: 3.5

Overall Score: 4

We finished La Llorona, then decided to jump on The Simpsons ride. Fun... Pretty much what we expected after riding the Orlando version. Finished

The Simpsons around 10:10 and headed down to the lower lot. We were able to hit both mazes twice and get a ride in each on The Mummy and Transformers by the time 11:15 rolled around. The Mummy was a lot of fun, an we enjoyed the differences it brought compared to the Orlando version. Transformers was fun (my partners favorite ride of the night) although for me it was hard not to compare the ride mechanics of it to Spiderman at IOA in Orlando. Now onto the mazes.

Silent Hill: firstly, we didn't see the mail man our first go around, but did see him the second time. It seemed quite a few people were competing for his attention, so we didn't worry about it. Starting with the facade... It was lacking. The Silent Hill sign with the trees and shrubs around it almost felt like an afterthought tacked on because they needed a quick facade. And they could have even attempted to hide the plastic planters the trees and shrubs were sitting inside as they defiantly detracted from the facade. Facade aside though, I was thoroughly impressed with this maze. I may have had my expectations lowered due to many negative things I have read, and maybe that helped, because this ended up tying for 2 place for my favorite maze for the night. While there were a handful of "black hallways", they didn't bother me much as the overall design was pretty great and I immediately knew I was in Silent Hill. Many of the effects, like the "flash light" effect and use of fog (which seemed far more dense in our second walk thru) were really creative and added that little something extra. The only real problem with the design aside from the facade that I had was the ending room. Much like the facade, the final room seemed like an afterthought when they realized they needed an easy way to incorporate Robbie. Even walking into the room, it was obvious that one of the Robbie's sitting was really a person, so it made the scare les effective. But that is only a small complaint, as the rest of the maze before it really impressed. The talent both times was really aggressive and spot on. The Pyramid Head actors were relentless and got us every single time. The nurses were great and tried there best to making getting around them as hard as possible. Best maze for me in terms of scares and the talent! Silent Hill surprised, in a very good way. Final Score:

Design: 3.5 (bumped down a little for the facade and lack of creativity in final room.)

Scare Factor: 5

Overall Rating: 4

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre maze at Universal Orlando during Carnival of Carnage is hands down the greatest HHN maze I have every experienced... And I have experienced a lot of them. As such this maze was probably the hardest for me to review and took two walk throughs to really appreciate what they created. Of course I knew going in that it was based on the original and not the remake, but my first walk through  I couldn't help comparing the two. The entire look and feel of the original movie and the remake are completely different. Man, the original hardly has any blood in it! The gore in the film is mostly left to the imagination. So the first walk through was me struggling to not compare it to HHNO maze I loved so much. Of course, after the first walk through and a trip on The Mummy, I got myself in the right mindset and we did another walk through. Instead of comparing it to the HHNO maze, I instead starting to notice great little design elements from the original movie and began to really really enjoy the design of the maze. The scares however, both times, where very off and on. For every scare that hit really hard (Like the chainsaw scare outside the BBQ) there was one that fell flat (the kitchen). While I had my own personal problems with reviewing the maze at first, I did very much end up liking the design elements and some of the scares. Final score:

Design: 4

Scare Factor: 3

Overall Rating: 3.5

After finishing the lower lot, we headed back up and relaxed in the VIP lounge for for about half an hour and had some drinks. We then had our second walk through of The Walking Dead before making in over to see Bill and Ted at 12:30.

Bill And Ted: Bill and Ted was great. The opening musical tribute to the universal monsters was great fun, and the laughs through out were great. For me the greatest joke of the night was when Obama meets Lincoln... Just thinking about it makes me laugh!!! This one goes down as one of the better Bill and Ted shows I have seen.

After Bill and Ted let out, it was pushing 1:30, so we went and did our second walk through of La Llorona and one last walk through of The Walking Dead before heading out for the evening!

So that was our evening... And I have yet to talk about the Scarezones... That's because this was the biggest let down of the night. Klowns was just ok... Toys looked nice but had very little talent... Same with Witches. Silent Hill scare zone was empty with all the talent at the exit of the maze. The scarezones seemed like they were added for the sole purpose of saying they had them... Something DRASTICALLY needs to change next year. That's all I will say about the Scarezones.

Overall, we had a great time and will make this our new Halloween Tradition! I will also say that after doing HHN with the VIP experience, I don't think I could go back and do regular admissions. The perks really were overall fun and great, and the unlimited front of the line was incredible! We got collectively 11 walk throughs of the mazes over the course of the night, 12 if you count Terror Tram. It really did make all the difference! 

So a quick overview of my long winded review:

The Walking Dead: Overall Rating of 4.5

La Llorona: Overall Rating of 4

Silent Hill: Overall Rating of 4

Texas Chain Saw Massacre: Overall Rating of 3.5

Alice Cooper: Overall Rating of 2.5

UMR: Overall Rating of 2

Terror Tram: Overall Rating of 1.5

Bill and Ted: Awesome, plan and simple...

Scarezones: I've already said enough!

I'm already pumped and ready for next year!

Edited November 3, 2012 by Stitch_101

[DTH316]

Glad you enjoyed your trip so much! Funny enough, it seems like you were probably agitated with the quality considering 3 of the first 4 things you did were only okay haha. I know I would've been worried by that point if my money had been wasted or not! But gladly, you enjoyed the mazes toward the end of the night more than the experiences earlier in the night.

But yes, the Terror Tram concerns, as well as the HoH concerns, are identical to how we all feel here as fans who have been going through them year after year. For a first timer, for you to feel the same way, shows that things REALLY need to be picked up now, as before, newcomers usually liked those attractions and sometimes thought they were the best.

I'd like to do the VIP experience one year, but I really just don't have that kind of money. Plus, I like to do just one walkthrough of each maze. Maybe repeat one, but usually one go around on each one is good enough for me on each visit. When I strike it rich, I'll give it a shot just to say I did it one year, but for now I'm really content with my cheap general admission that gets me through everything at least once as long as I get there on time.

I'd also like to go back on Halloween, as the only time I've ever gone to HHN on Halloween was my first time back in 07. Every year after that, I've either gone on the last Thursday or opening night. But I think it's time I revisit on Halloween night, just to get back to my roots . In fact, I think Halloween falls on a Thursday next year, so that might work out just splendidly...

[Stitch_101]

Glad you enjoyed your trip so much! Funny enough, it seems like you were probably agitated with the quality considering 3 of the first 4 things you did were only okay haha. I know I would've been worried by that point if my money had been wasted or not! But gladly, you enjoyed the mazes toward the end of the night more than the experiences earlier in the night.

Well our night started off pretty good... We found the backlot tour a lot of fun, if not a little on the cheesy side. But your right about when it came time to do the terror tram. Half way through it my partner said to me "I hope the mazes are a hell of a lot better then this." I was optimistic though. Even with Alice Copper, we enjoyed it, even if my score may not reflect that as much. I think the main reason it got one of the lower scores is because at the end of the night, when were hyped and talking about what all we loved, Alice didn't really come up... But it also didn't come up in what we really disliked about the night either. It was kinda just there. And I do feel bad because some of that could be because it was the first maze we did during the night, and we didn't repeat it, so it just wasn't really as fresh in our minds as everything else.

I would say the only 2 things I was really agitated with was the Terror Tram and the scare zones. I would like to say that UMR was another one, but while I personally did give it a rather harsh review, I should have probably noted that my partner loved the maze, so it was worth it to see him having a blast in it.

And you should totally go on Halloween! We already decided on going again next Halloween :-)

Edited November 4, 2012 by Stitch_101