We are nor two weekends and six nights into HHN, and house counts are starting to go up. It needs to be noted that my house count does not reflect at all my favorite houses just the houses with the shortest lines. Cabin in the Woods is a great house off a popular movie, and its the first house at the front of the park, so it has long waits all night every night, so the house count wont be that high. Meanwhile, La Llorona and Havoc are at the back of the park and by 11:00 have 0-5 minute waits so I always go through those a lot at those times. Here we are:
Walking Dead: 3
La LLorona: 8
Afterlife: 4
Havoc: 8
Evil Dead: 5
American Werewolf in London: 6
Resident Evil: 4
Cabin in the Woods: 4
Total: 42
Bill and Ted: 5
House of the week: Havoc
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Official HHN 23 Review
Now that I have been through each of the 8 Halloween Horror Nights houses multiple times now, I feel I have enough of a grasp on each of them to finally put together my review. Even in just a short time since opening night, I have changed my mind and moved my rankings around quite a bit, as I have had 3 different houses occupy my #1 slot already, and two different ones occupy my #8 spot.
Looking back to last year, 2 houses received 5 star reviews, 2 four stars, 1 three stars, 1 two stars and 1 one star. In my previous three years of attending the event combined, 8 houses have received five star reviews. Lets see what we have this year: Spoiler Alert: 2013 has the most 5 star reviews of any year I have attended. Here are my rankings with a short review and a couple of pics from each house as well.
1. Cabin in The Woods: Just a fantastic house in every way. This house was number two after opening weekend, but has moved up to number one recently. I loved the movie and I love the house and the progression of it. The house starts in the cabin, then you move to the basement where all the monsters are unleashed. Then you proceed to the underground facility where all hell breaks lose and you encounter all the monsters from the movie, including the merman.
Here is the entrance of the house, which is naturally the entrance to the cabin
Final Review: 5 stars out of 5
2. American Werewolf in London: This house was number one after opening weekend but moves down a spot, but its still an amazing house. This house perfectly replicates the movie, from the woods to the transformation scene, to picadilly square. This house also features incredibly scary animatronic wolves
And a very cool scene through the London Subway
Final Review: 5 stars out of 5
3. Evil Dead: This house also spent a short time as my favorite, but settles in at number 3. Based off the Cult classic movie, this is definitely the goriest house of the year, with twice as much "blood" as the average HHN house. The scene with "raining blood" might just be my favorite scene in all of Halloween Horror nights this year. Other highlights of this house include a terrifying walk through the forest with trees that come to life
And a recreation of the famous scene from the movie with dead cats hanging from the ceiling
Final Review: 5 stars out of 5
4. La Llorona: Based off the popular mexican urban legend based off a mother who drowned her children, and was forced to find them all before she could enter the afterlife. She eventually grew insane and the urban legend is if you misbehave La Llorona will kidnap you and try to pass you off as her child. This house is creepy as hell, which is a great thing in an HHN house. The progression is great, as it starts off simple, then gets more and more disturbing as you move along, finishing with an encounter with La LLorona herself. The entrance to this house is by far the most elaborate ever for a tent house
This scene with kids drowned is very disturbing
The underwater scenes are fun as well
Final Review: 5 stars out of 5
5. Afterlife: This years 3D house has a very interesting premise. The premise is that a serial killer is stalked by his victims in the afterlife. This house is very trippy and disorienting with some nice effects, but the scares fall a little flat. This is the 3rd straight year with a 3D house and I think many are becoming tired of them because this house has received some negative reviews on the message boards, but I personally found it enjoyable. This house also features the return of Ol' sparky from the Pyscoscarepay houses
This headlines scene is also pretty cool
Final Review: 4 stars out of 5
6. Havoc: Derailed: This house was dead last in my rankings after opening week, but has improved big time and has now moved up a couple spots. The concept is that the DOW are being transported in a train when the train crashes and they are unleashed on the public. My biggest gripe with the house is the train part of the house lasts way to long. Its half train, half post crash, when it should have been about 80% post crash. The train scenes suck, but the post crash scenes are great, such as this one.
Final Review: 3 stars out of 5
7. Walking Dead: Last years walking dead house ranked 5th out of 7, and this ones doesnt fare much better. I actually think this years version is better than last years, but not by much. And unlike last year, I am actually a fan of the show now, but I still couldnt get into it. I found most of this house fairly boring with not much going on. There are some cool scenes though, such as the iconic governor head fish tanks
And walking through the prison cell block
Final Review: 2 stars out of 5
8. Resident Evil: For a second straight year Universal brings a video game house to HHN and for a second straight year I hate it. Last years Silent Hill house as dead last in my rankings and this year Resident Evil is the same. There's really no part of this house that sticks out to me but I guess the highlight would be going through the pizza shop
Final review: 1 star out of 5
Overall this is a great year for HHN, with 4 houses that blew me away, and another two that are very good. Only one real dud, compared to 2 last year. Of course the scariest part of HHN is the lines to get into the houses
This is the line for Havoc on opening night, one of the least crowded nights of the year. This wait will be tripled in about three weeks. Even though it looks like a ton of people, that is probably only about a 30-40 minute wait because lines for Haunted house are very fast moving.
Looking back to last year, 2 houses received 5 star reviews, 2 four stars, 1 three stars, 1 two stars and 1 one star. In my previous three years of attending the event combined, 8 houses have received five star reviews. Lets see what we have this year: Spoiler Alert: 2013 has the most 5 star reviews of any year I have attended. Here are my rankings with a short review and a couple of pics from each house as well.
1. Cabin in The Woods: Just a fantastic house in every way. This house was number two after opening weekend, but has moved up to number one recently. I loved the movie and I love the house and the progression of it. The house starts in the cabin, then you move to the basement where all the monsters are unleashed. Then you proceed to the underground facility where all hell breaks lose and you encounter all the monsters from the movie, including the merman.
2. American Werewolf in London: This house was number one after opening weekend but moves down a spot, but its still an amazing house. This house perfectly replicates the movie, from the woods to the transformation scene, to picadilly square. This house also features incredibly scary animatronic wolves
3. Evil Dead: This house also spent a short time as my favorite, but settles in at number 3. Based off the Cult classic movie, this is definitely the goriest house of the year, with twice as much "blood" as the average HHN house. The scene with "raining blood" might just be my favorite scene in all of Halloween Horror nights this year. Other highlights of this house include a terrifying walk through the forest with trees that come to life
Final Review: 5 stars out of 5
4. La Llorona: Based off the popular mexican urban legend based off a mother who drowned her children, and was forced to find them all before she could enter the afterlife. She eventually grew insane and the urban legend is if you misbehave La Llorona will kidnap you and try to pass you off as her child. This house is creepy as hell, which is a great thing in an HHN house. The progression is great, as it starts off simple, then gets more and more disturbing as you move along, finishing with an encounter with La LLorona herself. The entrance to this house is by far the most elaborate ever for a tent house
The underwater scenes are fun as well
5. Afterlife: This years 3D house has a very interesting premise. The premise is that a serial killer is stalked by his victims in the afterlife. This house is very trippy and disorienting with some nice effects, but the scares fall a little flat. This is the 3rd straight year with a 3D house and I think many are becoming tired of them because this house has received some negative reviews on the message boards, but I personally found it enjoyable. This house also features the return of Ol' sparky from the Pyscoscarepay houses
6. Havoc: Derailed: This house was dead last in my rankings after opening week, but has improved big time and has now moved up a couple spots. The concept is that the DOW are being transported in a train when the train crashes and they are unleashed on the public. My biggest gripe with the house is the train part of the house lasts way to long. Its half train, half post crash, when it should have been about 80% post crash. The train scenes suck, but the post crash scenes are great, such as this one.
7. Walking Dead: Last years walking dead house ranked 5th out of 7, and this ones doesnt fare much better. I actually think this years version is better than last years, but not by much. And unlike last year, I am actually a fan of the show now, but I still couldnt get into it. I found most of this house fairly boring with not much going on. There are some cool scenes though, such as the iconic governor head fish tanks
Final Review: 2 stars out of 5
8. Resident Evil: For a second straight year Universal brings a video game house to HHN and for a second straight year I hate it. Last years Silent Hill house as dead last in my rankings and this year Resident Evil is the same. There's really no part of this house that sticks out to me but I guess the highlight would be going through the pizza shop
Overall this is a great year for HHN, with 4 houses that blew me away, and another two that are very good. Only one real dud, compared to 2 last year. Of course the scariest part of HHN is the lines to get into the houses
Monday, September 23, 2013
House count after Week 1 of HHN
I'll post my review after this upcoming weekend as I haven't made it through every house yet and it usually takes me at least 3 time through every house before I form a strong opinion on them.
Walking Dead: 0
La Llorona: 3
Afterlife: 1
Havoc: 2
Evil Dead: 0
American Werewolf In London: 2
Resident Evil: 1
Cabin in the Woods: 1
Total: 10
Bill and Ted: 2
House of the week: La Llorona
Walking Dead: 0
La Llorona: 3
Afterlife: 1
Havoc: 2
Evil Dead: 0
American Werewolf In London: 2
Resident Evil: 1
Cabin in the Woods: 1
Total: 10
Bill and Ted: 2
House of the week: La Llorona
Friday, September 20, 2013
Another year of HHN arrives with tons of promise
It's hard to believe its been ten and a half months since I last walked through the gates of Universal Studios for Halloween Horror Nights. But it has and tonight will mark the beginning of my fourth year attending the event. 2010 was my first year, and although many hardcore fans say it was an average year, to me it was incredible because it was my first time experiencing it. 2011 has been far and away the best of the 3 years I have attended so far, and many long time attendees say its in the top 3-5 best years in the events history. 2012 was to many people a major dud, for a myriad of reasons, some beyond the control of the people who create and run HHN. There were several reasons why 2012 was dissappointing..
1. 7 houses. for some reason the traditional amount of 8 houses didn't happen in 2012. We only got 7 but of course ticket prices remained the same as always. Naturally, one less house led to
2. Longer lines. With one less house to eat up people, the lines for the seven houses there were were ridiculously long all night every night. Even traditional slow nights such as opening night, Wednesdays, and Halloween night were much busier than normal. This was a major headache for many long time goers who cherished those precious few "slow" nights.
3. No scare zones: Universal ditched their usual scare zones last year for a "street experience." Instead of set zones where there would be actors throughout the parks, actors would be able to go anywhere throughout the park, even in stores and restaurants. The idea was there would be no "safe" zones and it would make the event scarier. The result was way to much "dead" space and the street experience idea was a major flop.
4. Inferior Houses: After the incredible houses of 2011, 2012 was a massive let down. On the HHN fan site, fans rated the 8 2011 houses with an average score of 8.1, with 6 of the 8 scoring at least an 8, and only one scoring less than a 7. In 2012? the average score of the 7 houses was only a 7.1, a full point lower. Only two houses scored at least an 8, and three houses scored less than 7.
So why so much optimism for 2012?
First off, there's going to be 8 houses again. The big reason however, was word has gotten out from some employees who were lucky enough to preview some of the houses before the event officially starts and the initial verdict from pretty much everyone was : WOW! So far 6 of the 8 houses have been getting unanimously rave reviews, with only one house of the lot getting not so great reviews. Here's what I think happened. NBC purchased the Universal parks in early 2012. They have not been shy about throwing money around, as evidenced by building a new hotel, new golf course, Transformers, Harry Potter 2.0, the list goes on. Many people believe they didn't realize just how big a deal HHN was and were reluctant to throw a lot of money at it when there was already a ton of money going elsewhere. The result was a cheapened 2012 event. When the less than stellar reviews rolled in, they realized just how popular the event was in the state, and have responded by throwing a ton of money into the event for 2013. So here's a preview of each of the 8 houses
1. Cabin in the Woods: This house along would make me jacked for the event. Ever since I saw this movie I wanted it turned into a house at HHN, and I can't believe I actually got my wish. This is by far the most anticipated house for me, and initial reviews have been so positive it's got me even more excited.
2. Havoc: Derailed: The first "sequel" house in a while for HHN. In 2010 Havoc: Dogs of War was a house at HHN centered around super soldiers, an experiment gone wrong. That house took place in the lab the experiment failed in, this year the house takes us to a train, where the Soldiers are being transported for further testing, but the train crashes unleashing the soldiers on the public. So far Derailed has been the one house getting not so good reviews but its definitely worth noting that on preview night in 2010, Dogs of War got negative reviews also and by the end of the event it was so loved it ended up winning House of the Year. Maybe history will repeat itself
3. Afterlife: Deaths Vengence: The yearly 3-D house at HHN this year, the premise being that a serial killer is getting attacked by his victims in the afterlife. So far very positive reviews as is normal for the 3-D house.
4. Evil Dead: Based on the cult horror movie classic from the 1980's. Very positive reviews so far
5. Resident Evil: Based on the video games of the same name. Average reviews so far, fans of the games are impressed, non fans not so much. I'm not a fan of the games so I'm not expecting much here.
6. La Llorona: This is one of the two potential "game changers" this year. There are three different locations for HHN houses, queues, tents, and soundstages. Typically soundstage houses are much more big and have a grander scale than the other two because there is much more room to work with. Every year this is 4 soundstage, 2 tent, and 2 queue houses. La Llorona is one of the two tent houses and initial reviews say it is the best tent house ever. Somehow Universal managed to build this at such a grand scale you would think you were in a soundstage. I can't wait for this one.
7. Walking Dead: Dead Inside: For the second straight year a Walking Dead house makes its way to HHN, and while last years house was very average, so far many say this years version is much, much better.
8. American Werewolf In London: This is the one. Based on the cult horror movie classic, many people who have had the privilege of going through it already say this is one of the best, if not the best house in HHN history. The leaders of the people who Build the HHN houses are massive fans of the movie and have been trying for 10 years to acquire the rights to build a house off of it. They finally got the rights this year and they planned on taking full advantage of the opportunity. I can not wait to see what this house has in store.
So that's HHN this year, and of course Bill and Ted will be there as always. It's not HHN without Bill and Ted. Of course there will also be other entertaining traditions such as fights and people getting arrested, the usual stuff that occurs when a bunch of drunk people are in the same space. That first time I see somebody getting punched then immediately getting restrained by police I'll just smile to myself and say "Yup, HHN is back!"
1. 7 houses. for some reason the traditional amount of 8 houses didn't happen in 2012. We only got 7 but of course ticket prices remained the same as always. Naturally, one less house led to
2. Longer lines. With one less house to eat up people, the lines for the seven houses there were were ridiculously long all night every night. Even traditional slow nights such as opening night, Wednesdays, and Halloween night were much busier than normal. This was a major headache for many long time goers who cherished those precious few "slow" nights.
3. No scare zones: Universal ditched their usual scare zones last year for a "street experience." Instead of set zones where there would be actors throughout the parks, actors would be able to go anywhere throughout the park, even in stores and restaurants. The idea was there would be no "safe" zones and it would make the event scarier. The result was way to much "dead" space and the street experience idea was a major flop.
4. Inferior Houses: After the incredible houses of 2011, 2012 was a massive let down. On the HHN fan site, fans rated the 8 2011 houses with an average score of 8.1, with 6 of the 8 scoring at least an 8, and only one scoring less than a 7. In 2012? the average score of the 7 houses was only a 7.1, a full point lower. Only two houses scored at least an 8, and three houses scored less than 7.
So why so much optimism for 2012?
First off, there's going to be 8 houses again. The big reason however, was word has gotten out from some employees who were lucky enough to preview some of the houses before the event officially starts and the initial verdict from pretty much everyone was : WOW! So far 6 of the 8 houses have been getting unanimously rave reviews, with only one house of the lot getting not so great reviews. Here's what I think happened. NBC purchased the Universal parks in early 2012. They have not been shy about throwing money around, as evidenced by building a new hotel, new golf course, Transformers, Harry Potter 2.0, the list goes on. Many people believe they didn't realize just how big a deal HHN was and were reluctant to throw a lot of money at it when there was already a ton of money going elsewhere. The result was a cheapened 2012 event. When the less than stellar reviews rolled in, they realized just how popular the event was in the state, and have responded by throwing a ton of money into the event for 2013. So here's a preview of each of the 8 houses
1. Cabin in the Woods: This house along would make me jacked for the event. Ever since I saw this movie I wanted it turned into a house at HHN, and I can't believe I actually got my wish. This is by far the most anticipated house for me, and initial reviews have been so positive it's got me even more excited.
2. Havoc: Derailed: The first "sequel" house in a while for HHN. In 2010 Havoc: Dogs of War was a house at HHN centered around super soldiers, an experiment gone wrong. That house took place in the lab the experiment failed in, this year the house takes us to a train, where the Soldiers are being transported for further testing, but the train crashes unleashing the soldiers on the public. So far Derailed has been the one house getting not so good reviews but its definitely worth noting that on preview night in 2010, Dogs of War got negative reviews also and by the end of the event it was so loved it ended up winning House of the Year. Maybe history will repeat itself
3. Afterlife: Deaths Vengence: The yearly 3-D house at HHN this year, the premise being that a serial killer is getting attacked by his victims in the afterlife. So far very positive reviews as is normal for the 3-D house.
4. Evil Dead: Based on the cult horror movie classic from the 1980's. Very positive reviews so far
5. Resident Evil: Based on the video games of the same name. Average reviews so far, fans of the games are impressed, non fans not so much. I'm not a fan of the games so I'm not expecting much here.
6. La Llorona: This is one of the two potential "game changers" this year. There are three different locations for HHN houses, queues, tents, and soundstages. Typically soundstage houses are much more big and have a grander scale than the other two because there is much more room to work with. Every year this is 4 soundstage, 2 tent, and 2 queue houses. La Llorona is one of the two tent houses and initial reviews say it is the best tent house ever. Somehow Universal managed to build this at such a grand scale you would think you were in a soundstage. I can't wait for this one.
7. Walking Dead: Dead Inside: For the second straight year a Walking Dead house makes its way to HHN, and while last years house was very average, so far many say this years version is much, much better.
8. American Werewolf In London: This is the one. Based on the cult horror movie classic, many people who have had the privilege of going through it already say this is one of the best, if not the best house in HHN history. The leaders of the people who Build the HHN houses are massive fans of the movie and have been trying for 10 years to acquire the rights to build a house off of it. They finally got the rights this year and they planned on taking full advantage of the opportunity. I can not wait to see what this house has in store.
So that's HHN this year, and of course Bill and Ted will be there as always. It's not HHN without Bill and Ted. Of course there will also be other entertaining traditions such as fights and people getting arrested, the usual stuff that occurs when a bunch of drunk people are in the same space. That first time I see somebody getting punched then immediately getting restrained by police I'll just smile to myself and say "Yup, HHN is back!"
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