Official 2018 HHN-28 Thread
- Thread starter keishashadow
- Start date
HollyMD
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2016
Question for you pros- we have tickets to HHN OCT 11(Thursday) and 12(Friday). Trying to decide between an EP for the 11th or adding Saturday night the 13th for 3 full nights and break up the houses. Suggestions? Also, EP is good for only one use per hoise, correct? How are crowds usually around those dates? We decided against the RIP tour(money wise) and just trying to weigh our options on the others.
soniam
Wooden leg named Smith...
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2012
I read on FB that the Freestyle machines were working for water without a Freestyle cup on at least opening night of HHN. The guy said you had to select water first and then put in your cup. I know that the Freestyle machines will also put water into the Freestyle cup, and I think it also has carbonated water. We used to get water from those machines without having the cup, but at some point, it seemed to quit working. Maybe the key is the order of the steps, choice then cup.
Saturdays cost more for the hhn tickets and will have huge crowds.
If it were me, I would go for that Thursday and Friday and do ep for Friday.
Friday has a larger draw of peeps than Thursday
That Thursday is my last night of HHN and i bought the FF + ep pass
purple hippo
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2009
Just want to double check that our Seasonal AP will get us into the parks on HHN days correct? They are not listed as a blockout date on the website and would not be counted as a concert night because it is a separately ticketed event. Just a little nervous as we leave next week and have booked Behind the Screams tour which is during the day and planned on hanging in the park each HHN we are there.
OhioStateBuckeye
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2007
I hope so since that's the level of pass my boyfriend has and that's our plan too
tony67
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 22, 2003
I get the seasonal pass for HHN every year - it's not an issue that I can see and plan to get one this year as well
hockey mom
<font color=coral>Loves to do the Napkin Dance at
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2000
So if we have a seasonal pass and hit the park around 1 can we wait in the Finnegan s area for hhn. We bought our tickets for that separately
MikeNamez
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2017
Just got back from opening weekend and man was it a bit disappointing. Scare zones weren't even worth a walk through(Except for the music of Vamp 85, that was AMAZING.), but most of the houses were awesome. Anybody going I highly suggest getting half price fast passes as they are worth their weight in gold.
purple hippo
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2009
Maybe I missed this earlier, but how do you get a half priced express pass? Is it really half price?
Yay!!! Thanks for confirming! One less thing to think about.
MikeNamez
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2017
Maybe I missed this earlier, but how do you get a half priced express pass? Is it really half price?
Yay!!! Thanks for confirming! One less thing to think about.
They start 3 hours before the end of HHN.. So if HHN closes at 1AM then they start working at10PM. Yes, they truly are half priced as we paid 45$ on Friday and Sunday. We didn't even go into HHN untill 10PM each day and did everything at least twice.
Mighty Mikser
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2018
We attended on opening night (9/14) and while it was a good time overall it is not something I would attempt to experience again. We purposely scheduled our trip around the HHN dates to make sure we could experience it for the first time ever. Below are spoilers from the event so read at your own risk.
Spoilers
Spoilers
Spoilers
Crowds:
Obscenely crowded on opening night. We were in the Finnegan's holding area, and went straight to Stranger Things at 5:30pm and had to wait 2 hours. We had express passes but thought we could get in quickly being amongst the first to the line and then use the express pass a 2nd time since Stranger Things was #1 on our list but that backfired with just about everyone in the holding area rushing to ST. Word has it they sold over 40k tickets for the opening night, and I would guess half those people had express passes as we didn't have a single house that was shorter than 20 minutes even with Express Passes. Stranger Things with express passes was estimated at 45-60 minutes by the time we exited the house. We checked back at 12:30am and the estimate was still the same.
Houses:
For all houses (except for Patient Zero) the decorations were great, costumes were great, and overall sets were great. However, there's just no creativity in regards to how they try to "scare" people from house to house. It's all 100% jump scares, you go around a corner and someone/something pops out with a loud noise. This results in being startled a bit at the first house and desensitized by the 3rd/4th house. Admittedly, I am not the one that gets scared, the Mrs. is, but there are other ways to scare people than the one trick pony the houses offer up.
For Dead Exposure: Patient Zero - excessive use of strobe effects, and I do mean excessive. Also very annoying sound effects used in this house. The overall feel of it was extremely uncomfortable from a senses standpoint that I wasn't even paying attention to the scare actors.
All the houses focused on loud, banging, shrieking noises, and less on actual atmosphere that I feel loud thematic music provides. I was hoping for more music throughout the houses and the park and didn't get very much.
Scare Zones:
Aside from Vamp 85, these were a total letdown. Too many people, not enough scare actors, and almost no screaming. There was just a complete lack of atmosphere for the event outside the houses. Much of the fun for us is seeing people get scared unexpectedly as they traverse the park and there was almost none of that happening. There were a couple "haha" moments when people got surprised by a chainsaw wielding scare actor outside the scare zones, but those weren't enough to create a fun atmosphere around the park. I had heard and read so much about HHN and was excited, but the scare zones and really just everything outside the houses failed to meet my expectations (Knotts Scary Farm does a better job with park atmosphere).
Vamp 85 was awesome. The music blasting really set the mood, the singing and dancing was great and the total immersion of the zone really gave it a great vibe. I wish I would've just spent the whole evening here instead of walking to the other ends of the park.
Scare Actors:
Outside the Vamp 85 area, I don't think the scare actors were very into things this year. Maybe just being opening night and really warm had something to do with it. But we didn't see a lot of people really dedicated to actually getting people to jump or be scared. There also did not seem to be very many scare actors outside the houses. The scare zones felt mostly barren and empty, overall just disappointing.
Lines and Queues:
I'm okay waiting in lines. After reading countless blogs and forums I was definitely expecting them for my first HHN event. That's also why I went with the express pass and mentally prepared myself that my wait would be half of what the standby queue time was listed as. That being said, it felt like they definitely oversold express pass for the event. Additionally, some of the walks to the houses and even more so the walk after finishing a house were very long. I estimate that the Trick'r'treat house had a half mile walk from the exit back to the park. Multiple houses had similar long walks back to the park. Add to this the long lines, even with express pass, and the poor layout of the line queues and it just resulted in much more walking than necessary. I know complaining about walking seems silly but even in my wildest scenario I didn't expect that there would be quite as much walking leaving one house, getting back to the main area, and then going through the next queue.
For Slaughter Cinema and Dead Exposure, these 2 houses were side by side but to do both required about 1.5 miles of walking. I would rather wait in a longer queue and do 1 house and then immediately go into the next to reduce that walking by half. I get this isn't ideal for Universal (and maybe some park guests that don't want to do a particular house) so that's really just my own personal squabble.
Merchandise:
Like all merchandise at Universal Studios, everything was marked up 100-300% more than normal. There were some cool shirts and the souvenir drinking glasses were slick but nothing memorable or worth the prices. I personally have a lot of black t-shirts from various events over the years, I really wish people would make them in other colors for these kinds of events.
Overall:
Having frequented lesser haunted events throughout the years and always wanting to experience HHN either at Hollywood but preferably at Orlando I had high expectations. The set and costume design quality were top notch and obviously worthy of Universal (I can't think of anything that rivals their quality), but everything else was a lackluster experience. Aside from visual quality and themes of the houses, there's nothing that HHN 28 offered me that I haven't gotten from other scare events. The scare attempts are all the same, the overall park atmosphere was lacking, and the crowd level felt extreme even for a Disney parks veteran.
Maybe when my kids are old enough to want to experience the event I will give it another go, otherwise I can say I'm glad I've done it but wouldn't plan another trip for it. If I happen to take another trip during the HHN event season then I would likely give it another shot after learning more about the event this year. However, I wouldn't purposely schedule another trip for HHN like I did this time around.
Edit - adding below section:
Newbie Tips:
Express Pass on any moderately crowded night (probably every Friday-Sunday) is definitely a must unless you have the ability to go on multiple nights.
Stranger Things was the longest and will likely remain the most popular house all season long. If you can start in the park and have express pass, use the express pass here first and then speed along to the other houses while everyone else waits in the standard queue or comes in through the main gate. If you start at the main gate and have express pass, then I recommend starting elsewhere for the shorter initial queues and ending at Stranger Things.
If you don't have express pass, then all bets are off and you should just prioritize your top 5 houses and utilize the app for wait times.
Grab some pizza and/or drinks and hang out in the Vamp 85 area, it is really well done thematically and is nearby 4 houses so it makes for a good time. I regret not spending more time in this zone due to my desire to see the other areas.
Be friendly with your fellow park goers, one of the best memories from the event was the people we chatted with during our 2-hour wait for Stranger Things. They were part of the reason we didn't jump over the rail to switch into the Express lane after the first hour had passed.
My Nostalgic Final Thought:
Writing all this up and reflecting on the event makes me want to give it another go with the lessons learned... but on a cooler, less busy night. It's something everyone should experience once!
Spoilers
Spoilers
Spoilers
Crowds:
Obscenely crowded on opening night. We were in the Finnegan's holding area, and went straight to Stranger Things at 5:30pm and had to wait 2 hours. We had express passes but thought we could get in quickly being amongst the first to the line and then use the express pass a 2nd time since Stranger Things was #1 on our list but that backfired with just about everyone in the holding area rushing to ST. Word has it they sold over 40k tickets for the opening night, and I would guess half those people had express passes as we didn't have a single house that was shorter than 20 minutes even with Express Passes. Stranger Things with express passes was estimated at 45-60 minutes by the time we exited the house. We checked back at 12:30am and the estimate was still the same.
Houses:
For all houses (except for Patient Zero) the decorations were great, costumes were great, and overall sets were great. However, there's just no creativity in regards to how they try to "scare" people from house to house. It's all 100% jump scares, you go around a corner and someone/something pops out with a loud noise. This results in being startled a bit at the first house and desensitized by the 3rd/4th house. Admittedly, I am not the one that gets scared, the Mrs. is, but there are other ways to scare people than the one trick pony the houses offer up.
For Dead Exposure: Patient Zero - excessive use of strobe effects, and I do mean excessive. Also very annoying sound effects used in this house. The overall feel of it was extremely uncomfortable from a senses standpoint that I wasn't even paying attention to the scare actors.
All the houses focused on loud, banging, shrieking noises, and less on actual atmosphere that I feel loud thematic music provides. I was hoping for more music throughout the houses and the park and didn't get very much.
Scare Zones:
Aside from Vamp 85, these were a total letdown. Too many people, not enough scare actors, and almost no screaming. There was just a complete lack of atmosphere for the event outside the houses. Much of the fun for us is seeing people get scared unexpectedly as they traverse the park and there was almost none of that happening. There were a couple "haha" moments when people got surprised by a chainsaw wielding scare actor outside the scare zones, but those weren't enough to create a fun atmosphere around the park. I had heard and read so much about HHN and was excited, but the scare zones and really just everything outside the houses failed to meet my expectations (Knotts Scary Farm does a better job with park atmosphere).
Vamp 85 was awesome. The music blasting really set the mood, the singing and dancing was great and the total immersion of the zone really gave it a great vibe. I wish I would've just spent the whole evening here instead of walking to the other ends of the park.
Scare Actors:
Outside the Vamp 85 area, I don't think the scare actors were very into things this year. Maybe just being opening night and really warm had something to do with it. But we didn't see a lot of people really dedicated to actually getting people to jump or be scared. There also did not seem to be very many scare actors outside the houses. The scare zones felt mostly barren and empty, overall just disappointing.
Lines and Queues:
I'm okay waiting in lines. After reading countless blogs and forums I was definitely expecting them for my first HHN event. That's also why I went with the express pass and mentally prepared myself that my wait would be half of what the standby queue time was listed as. That being said, it felt like they definitely oversold express pass for the event. Additionally, some of the walks to the houses and even more so the walk after finishing a house were very long. I estimate that the Trick'r'treat house had a half mile walk from the exit back to the park. Multiple houses had similar long walks back to the park. Add to this the long lines, even with express pass, and the poor layout of the line queues and it just resulted in much more walking than necessary. I know complaining about walking seems silly but even in my wildest scenario I didn't expect that there would be quite as much walking leaving one house, getting back to the main area, and then going through the next queue.
For Slaughter Cinema and Dead Exposure, these 2 houses were side by side but to do both required about 1.5 miles of walking. I would rather wait in a longer queue and do 1 house and then immediately go into the next to reduce that walking by half. I get this isn't ideal for Universal (and maybe some park guests that don't want to do a particular house) so that's really just my own personal squabble.
Merchandise:
Like all merchandise at Universal Studios, everything was marked up 100-300% more than normal. There were some cool shirts and the souvenir drinking glasses were slick but nothing memorable or worth the prices. I personally have a lot of black t-shirts from various events over the years, I really wish people would make them in other colors for these kinds of events.
Overall:
Having frequented lesser haunted events throughout the years and always wanting to experience HHN either at Hollywood but preferably at Orlando I had high expectations. The set and costume design quality were top notch and obviously worthy of Universal (I can't think of anything that rivals their quality), but everything else was a lackluster experience. Aside from visual quality and themes of the houses, there's nothing that HHN 28 offered me that I haven't gotten from other scare events. The scare attempts are all the same, the overall park atmosphere was lacking, and the crowd level felt extreme even for a Disney parks veteran.
Maybe when my kids are old enough to want to experience the event I will give it another go, otherwise I can say I'm glad I've done it but wouldn't plan another trip for it. If I happen to take another trip during the HHN event season then I would likely give it another shot after learning more about the event this year. However, I wouldn't purposely schedule another trip for HHN like I did this time around.
Edit - adding below section:
Newbie Tips:
Express Pass on any moderately crowded night (probably every Friday-Sunday) is definitely a must unless you have the ability to go on multiple nights.
Stranger Things was the longest and will likely remain the most popular house all season long. If you can start in the park and have express pass, use the express pass here first and then speed along to the other houses while everyone else waits in the standard queue or comes in through the main gate. If you start at the main gate and have express pass, then I recommend starting elsewhere for the shorter initial queues and ending at Stranger Things.
If you don't have express pass, then all bets are off and you should just prioritize your top 5 houses and utilize the app for wait times.
Grab some pizza and/or drinks and hang out in the Vamp 85 area, it is really well done thematically and is nearby 4 houses so it makes for a good time. I regret not spending more time in this zone due to my desire to see the other areas.
Be friendly with your fellow park goers, one of the best memories from the event was the people we chatted with during our 2-hour wait for Stranger Things. They were part of the reason we didn't jump over the rail to switch into the Express lane after the first hour had passed.
My Nostalgic Final Thought:
Writing all this up and reflecting on the event makes me want to give it another go with the lessons learned... but on a cooler, less busy night.
It's something everyone should experience once!
Last edited:
Although I'm a big fan of HHN and am eagerly waiting for our visit in a few weeks, it is always good to have a well thought out review with likes and dislikes. So often on the internet, instead of thoughtfully articulating criticism, they just post "It sucks." Those "reviews" are useless and just trolling. Your post will benefit other first timers understand there are possible disappointments.
Mighty Mikser
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2018
I will edit my original reply also to add some additional tips for first timers based on my experiences. I think knowing what I know now I could've had avoided the 2 hour wait which would've meant shorter lines at several other houses to start.
For the future, and for anyone else attending for the first time, I cannot strongly enough recommend doing the Daytime 'Unmasking the Horror' tour before experiencing the haunt itself. Why, you ask?
Universal puts so much thought and details into almost all of their houses. There is generally an extensive backstory, as well as a narrative being told in each house. And some of these are incredibly detailed. The daytime tour goes into all of that. Even if you don't tour a particular house, the guide will generally explain the storyline and what is happening while you're walking through. That doesn't even begin to mention the astounding level of intricate details they put into each house . . . .things that almost no one will ever see with the lights off.
Having that knowledge transforms a house from "oh, look, another boo around the corner" to an amazing horror show being played out as you participate. I never get scared, but I can't get enough of HHN, just because of all the work put into it.
Try that out, and then experience HHN with a new perspective.
Steve in Philly
patster734
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2004
Sounds like crowds are very light tonight. Other than Stranger Things, I’ve seen twitter feeds reporting 15 minute waits or less for the other houses.
schumigirl
It's a bit of a roodie doodie word for lady parts
- Joined
- May 15, 2007
Crowds were light. You really felt you could breathe in the parks.......
Halloween was a total walk on with EP at 8pm didn’t even stop......regular line was 15 minutes.
Poltergeist was 30 minutes regular.......we walked straight on......again, barely stopped in EP line.
Scary Tales was 20 minutes regular.....we would have walked on, but there was a “guest incident” and we had to wait till it was sorted......maybe waited 10 minutes. This is a short house.
Stranger Things was 45 minutes regular........we were 8 minutes with EP from entering line till going in house......
We really enjoyed it tonight.......Vamp 85 is still the scare zone that tops the rest. Although no real scares, just lots of fun with SA doing what they do best...........
Will do more houses over next few nights.
hockey mom
<font color=coral>Loves to do the Napkin Dance at
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2000
Awesome time. Just got home. All ten houses and dinner buy 10:30.
Biggest line was poltergeist. Said 45 but I think we were in at about 25 mins. So glad we went on a Wednesday. !!
Oh and that’s also without express passes .
Biggest line was poltergeist. Said 45 but I think we were in at about 25 mins. So glad we went on a Wednesday. !!
Oh and that’s also without express passes .
Last edited:
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