First, let me preface in saying I have been going to HHN every year since 1999. I have NEVER missed a year since moving here. Some years I have been scared silly and felt I got my moneys worth, and others years..not so much...this year was a not so much year.
I had been anticipating going this year, especially after the really bad year that was last year. I had read what I could, seen good reviews and felt good about the event.
DH and I went on Thursday 10/23. I was a bit worried as this was also dubbed "Hell Day" because of the local kids being off school on Friday. We typically do NOT by express passes, as they are over priced and I will NOT inflate the HHN profit even more(seriously, $70 for a Sat night!).
We have passes, and stopped it IOA for a bit to get some Potter area pics, then moved on to the Studios around 4:45p. We walked around a bit, and got in line for Simpsons just as the park was closing. We then were ushered to the S&S area in the kiddie area. There was maybe a total of about 100-150 ppl here, and they opened up Scary Tales for us. We waited about 5m, and because it was still light out, we could not see ANYTHING in the house. We lucked out, and there was zero line when we exited, so we ducked under the rope, and went through again...ALONE! I was scared NUMEROUS times and had a great experience. From there, The Hallowed was open, so that was next on the list.
Again, a 5m wait, and again, hard to see ANYTHING. Also there seemed to be a lack of actors in the house. It just felt empty. It looked like they had let the gate people in early, so we walked on to Dead Exposure. It was not open yet, so we waited till 6:30p when it opened. Again, the early hour, and lack of people in this house, just made it...dumb.
By now, I needed a drink, so I got the overpriced HHN official drink cup filled with rum, juice and an energy drink. I had to chug it, because we had stepped into line again, and it was a walk on for the Reflections of Fear house. This house was just dumb. Again, lack of actors. BOO!
We walked through Amityville, and past Disaster! into the un-official scare zone filled with chainsaw gangs. All 3 of them...sigh...and right to Doomsday. At this point, the sky was getting very very dark, due to the oncoming rain. It held out for the BEST house of the night for me. I am a sucker for chainsaw guys, and they cornered me thanks to my loving DH. I was laughing the entire way, and the actors preyed on my weakness. Great scares, GREAT HOUSE! As we exited, it started to rain, so we grabbed some food at the pizza place before it got busy.
After food, we walked through the scare zone outside of Mummy..yeah..except for the guy trying to steal my water in my $10 cup...pretty much a non event. We stepped in line for Body Collectors which was posted for 20m at about 7:40p, not bad. I enjoyed the house a lot, good scares, and good scenery. We decided to check out the park at this point, and hit up the scare zones.
Now here is where my major issues begin to arise. I FULLY understand US is building a new coaster. I also understand that most construction projects happen in the evening, but my question is, WHY do they need to do this on HHN event nights? The ENTIRE park was lit up with the GIANT spotlights, causing the scarezones to be lit up as well. The whole thing about HHN is the dimly lit park mixed with fog, and people coming up and scaring you outta nowhere. This was NOT the atmosphere. The fog was having issues because of the weather, that is understandable, but the lights, ruined the effect.
So we walked through the last of the scarezones, hanging out and listening to the caterpillar insult passers by for a while, then got in line for Interstellar Terror. Nice set, lack of scares again. We hit Creatures as our last house and came out completely confused...to me it was a bunch of redneck types..LOL..I see that all the time in my county..LOL. We decided to call it a night, and after one final sweep of the few scarezones nearby, and hanging out with a different caterpiller, we called it a night at about 10:15p, the very first time we left HHN early. We normally stay till it ends. We used our Citywalk option, and caught the end of the World Series game(Go Rays!) and headed home.
Final Thoughts-
*Where were the actors in the houses? We saw more security than actual scareactors.
*The LIGHTS..SHUT EM OFF!!
*I loved the lines in the soundstage, but they should have added more screens, and turned up the volume a tad...Highlight was watching the US employees doing the Thriller dance!
*Is HHN really worth my money anymore? Are my expectations set to high?
I am going to HOS 10/30, I hope it makes up for this bad experience. Sorry Universal, you are slipping in my book.