TheBlueBlazer's HHN Hollywood 2015 Review

[TheBlueBlazer]

Hey everyone, I'm actually on my flight back from LA right now and I just wants to share my thoughts on this years event. 

Overall, I was extremely happy with the event this year, coming from the perspective of someone who has been going to the Orlando event since moving there in 2012 and having only been the the Hollywood event once in 2013 (which I loved, btw).

While I'll admit that I prefer the Orlando event as a whole more, I prefer the houses in Hollywood, mainly for the aggressiveness of the scares. 

We got to the park around 5:10 and immediately went down towards the lower lot to take advantage of a Early Entry for Walking Dead and Insidious, and I have to say that they got the Early Entry thing down to a well oiled machine at this point (or we got extremely lucky). We watched the Raptor meet and greet thing for a few minutes and then jumped in line for TWD, which went by very quickly once the house opened at 5:45. I never thought I'd say this, but what an incredible Walking Dead house! Of the 6 different TWD incarnations I've seen over the last 4 years, I've usually met them with a resounding "Meh!" but this house got me so damn good! We immediately jumped right back in line and did it again because it was empty and we loved it. Another thing I wanted to mention that I loved about the Holywood event so much more than Orlandos is the pulsing of the lines. This gives us the chance to actually get the scares instead of watching the people 4 spaces ahead of us get it. Standout scares were the very first Terminus guy who pops out at the beginning, and the dual scare in front of the church.

Once we got our second helpings of TWD we jumped in line for Insidious, which was posting a 30 min wait around 6:10, but got us in there in about 20. Having loved the previous Insidus houses in 2013 and Orlandos this year, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this one, but wow, I was extremely impressed with this house. The Man Who Can't Breathe scars from above were fantastic, as well as the projection of the wall leading to one of the first Demon scares. The candle hallway was beautiful, and the Further was so unsettling. 

After that we went to check out This Is The End, which I was cautiously optimistic and extremely excited sbout all at once. I love the movie and the idea of a haunt house based on it is both stupid and wonderful, though the reviews were starting to worry me. Well, maybe the reviews lowered my expectations, or the house got better since those reviews, because I had a blast throughout this entire house. Loved the facade with dead Michael Cera, as well as all of the possessed Jonah Hill stuff. The thing I loved the most about this house was how it used the wide open spaces and still utilized scares well in those spaces. Also, one of the more fun 3D houses I've been in a while (though for my money, 2015 is a good 3D year on both coasts, with Asylum in Wonderland 3D being a ton of fun as well, with some of the best scares I've had in a 3D maze. 

Now that the sun has officially gone down, we head down to the backlot for AvP and Crimson Peak. First up was AvP, which had big shoes to fill for us because of how great Orlandos maze was last year, but I can absolutely see why this was brought back as the fan favorite this year. I loved the different setting than Orlandos (which was set mostly in a Weyland Yutani facility), seeing both of these creatures wreaking havoc on a residential area was great. Special shoutout to the scareactors in the first fight scene, where they both attack from each side. I saw my life flash before my eyes because of how close the Alien claw came to my face. Also can't say enough good things about the Queen, what a sight to see. 

Crimson Peak was up next, and while I was excited about it based on my love of Guillermo Del Toro, I really didn't know what to expect, but boy was I not ready for what happens here. I had heard all the complaints about the all black transitional rooms, but I didn't mind them so much as they helped set up one of my favorite scares of the event. I believe it's the 3rd blackout hallway we were in when is happened, but we were just expecting it to be another "safe" transitional room, maybe just filled with the little strings hanging from the ceiling. That's when something else touched my buddies face he raced out of that room like a bat out of hell. I was laughing way too hard to believe him, swearing that it was just one of the those strings and he's flipping out for no reason. but he's still on edge for the rest of the house, which was absolutely incredible and beautiful. As we leave the house we eventually get his calmed down and believing that it was just one of the strings. More on that later. 

On our back to the upper lot, we decided to hit This Is The End again since it was only 5 minutes. Still a lot of fun the second go round. 

We finally head up to the upper lot, grab some pizza from Luigis and then jump on the Terror Tram. It was enjoyable, but was definitely the least scary part of the event, as all 6 houses legitimately got all three of us in our group scared on multiple counts. 

After Terror Tram it was time for Halloween, which I was very excited for as Halloween from last years Orlando event is one of my all time favorite mazes, next to American Werewolf In London in 2013, and Paranormal Inc from this years Knotts (this maze was seriously worth the price of admission alone). It was great to step back into the Myers house, and while it was familiar, I liked the different touches than last years version  The dog room was disgusting in the best sense of the word, and this maze also made great use of the scares from above. My one nitpick about this version of the house is the strobe room at the end isn't nearly as effective with the mirrors and how well lit the room is. Orlandos version last year was a pure black room with nothing but strobes, and it as smaller. Made the effect a bit more intense, in my opinion.

At this point it was about 10:30 once we got everything done the first time around, so we decided to head back down to the backlot and begin using the Front of Line pass. All 6 houses held up on their second (and some third) runs. I was very impressed by that. When we finished the lower lot again, we hit Jurassic Park In The Dark and The Mummy before making our back up to do Halloween once more and then call it night. 

Going back to Crimson Peak and my friends freak out early, we discovered on the second run through that maze that there actually was somebody in that blackout hallway, whom we think is hiding in the wall with a feather or furry stick of sorts. The timing of this discovery was perfect, as it occurred just as my friend officially resigned to the fact that it was the strings and he overreacted. 

Scare zones were great, for what little time we spent in them. Dark Christmas is thicker winner here, and I very much (hopefully) look forward to a full maze based on this one day. 

All in all, I was so damn happy and impressed with Hollywoods event this year. I honestly don't understand the hate that any of the houses are getting, and I'm very much looking forward to coming back for next years event. I even saw Murdy as we were leaving AvP. I wanted to say hi and thank him for all he's done for the event, but there were too many people to maneuver through. 

Final House counts:

Walking Dead - 3

This Is The End - 3

Insidious - 2

Crimson Peak - 2

AvP - 2

Halloween - 2

Terror Tram - 1

[DTH316]

Great review, I'm glad you enjoy Hollywood!!!! I'm amazed you did TITE 3 times... that's three times more than I ever wanted to do it to begin with haha

[AsylumSB]

Nice review.  We had so much fun in Orlando last year and talk about it frequently.  Hope to return soon.  I agree about the aggressiveness of the scareactors in Hollywood; they are trained well!  But Orlando has much more immersion and detail with their houses.  Whatever the shortcomings in Hollywood (and there are just a few), I would rather be there than going back to the normal "life" routine.  I sigh when reading these reviews knowing I probably won't get back for a repeat visit this year.

Edited October 11, 2015 by AsylumSB

[Sir2lazyThe2nd]

Wow you actually liked This Is The End?!! In all seriousness, nice review