Halloween Horror Nights 2024 (USH) - Reviews, Photos & Videos

[Jerroddragon]

Chucky was the longest line features but so was Exorcist Believer and Stranger Things.

Another issue is we are missing the Backlot. That plays a role into what made HHN special.

Yeah

I miss the backlot but my legs don't, lol

I would also love mini houses to come back.....but anyway yeah. I think this is why I love the Tram so much its just unique

 

[viking_wizard_eyes]

I’ll be the contrarian, as this year progressed, and granted I went only three times, I found the event to just be less and less exciting to attend and very “dull”, especially in comparison to other Halloween events I attended.

While not terrible, I think A Quiet Place and Universal Monsters really brought down this event a lot for me - and something about the atmosphere was really off. Putting up this year’s event against last year’s, I feel there was a dip in environment and maybe even entertainment.

I also sadly never got a fully cast TCM run through, which really made me cranky.

I love HHN, and I still think it clears any of the other major SoCal Haunts, but its reputation has really started to diminish for me as being the “scary horror” event it once was, and I’m scared of it only getting worse and worse.

I think you could classify this is a down year, definitely. I don't think that's contrarian at all. Thing is, I don't need HHN to bat 1.000 for me to enjoy the event. A down year at HHN is still a lot of fun; a down year at HHN is still better than anything else on offer in the theme park space, and part of the reason is because it's the only one that is judged against itself, unlike KSF and FF.

Nothing about this year has knocked HHN off the pedestal. For me personally, at least. However, maybe for the first time ever, I could see that changing down the line as the dynamics of these haunt events continue to shift. It was definitely an interesting year.

 

[downunder]

I better get my 2 cents in before spec season starts lol. I really enjoyed the event this year - I went twice in mid-Sept (once RIP and once Express Unlimited). I didn't think it was as good as last year, but still a lot of fun.

Insidious - really good maze, I had fun even though the franchise been done many times.
Ghostbusters - liked this much more than the previous Ghostbusters maze, had some really good set pieces.
Quiet Place - really good maze, not a huge fan of the franchise, animatronics were spectacular.
Monsturous - the facade was a work of art, a bit too dependent on animatronics (when they worked), a lot of fun, but not a patch on '23.
Universal Monsters - I enjoyed this & I loved being on the soundstage where some of the classics were made. Great atmosphere and colour.
Dead Exposure - good energy, entertaining, even if I didn't connect with the narrative.
Texas Chainsaw - a good reinvention & great sets. I'd love to see them do the underground lair in TCM2 in the future.
Weeknd - don't mind his music, but didn't really connect with the imagery, still good fun. DJ and the facade were spectacular.
Terror Tram - really liked this, great energy and sets (for the tram), definitely an upgrade IMO.

Purge show - spectacular, if a bit formulaic, didn't seemed changed from last year - worth watching once,
Chucky - some good energy, but a light on substance - strangely the public were asking the exact same questions every time I went. This could have been amazing, but they played it safe. Chucky has so much potential, hopefully if he's back next year, the leash is a bit looser.

R.I.P. Tour - I think you get value for the roughly $100 extra on top of the Unlimited Express - the two extra experiences on the Terror Tram were okay. I preferred the extra mini maze last year, rather than a walkthrough of photo ops and it was cool to visit Nope again - the mini show was OK. The buffet was good imo, and being able to use the RIP line rather than regular express on a busy night is gold (I get the earliest tour and drop off as soon as the special stuff is done).

Early entry seemed disorganised early season, instead of going straight to the early entry areas and lining up for the mazes, backing up people up right back to the entry was not good.

Great that Nintendo was more available this year for guests. Sucked that Death Eaters weren't back. Scare Zones were same old, fun enough with some good energy. I really liked the crow animatronic in Murder of Crows.

 

[chris.g]

Decided we didn’t want to wait, got one of the Stay Puft S’mores only for the chocolate to be hard as a rock and the marshmallow to be cold, and then after hearing a lady in certain political garb audibly complaining about the existence of trans people to the person she was with (after hearing someone else having a loud and offensive charged conversation at Margaritaville when we were having drinks), we just decided to leave.

Dude, DITTO on this. I'm all for free speech, and as annoying as it is to see tribalism for a certain political candidate with people decked out in merch for that specific candidate... WHATEVER! Wear what you want, I actually find it very hilarious because that slogan and flaunting is so contradictory to the "shoved-down-our throats "agendas"" these people think are being forced on the general population.

But when this merchandise, and these conversations, get insanely (and purposely) offensive with no backlash, yeah man, you're at a Halloween event at a theme park. Go b*tch about your culture wars on your echo chamber twitter feed. I saw and heard some of this too at HHN with zero repercussion and even I had to ask what is stopping Universal from just banning offensive propaganda that clearly shouldn't be worn at a theme park, even at an event dedicated to a more mature audience? Literal misogynistic hate speech is written across some of the BS I came across and I assume team members can't say anything without fear of Universal being sued for being anti-free speech or getting "cancelled", but I'm surprised at the attire some people were getting away with. This also put a dent in my experiences at the event.

I think you could classify this is a down year, definitely. I don't think that's contrarian at all. Thing is, I don't need HHN to bat 1.000 for me to enjoy the event. A down year at HHN is still a lot of fun; a down year at HHN is still better than anything else on offer in the theme park space, and part of the reason is because it's the only one that is judged against itself, unlike KSF and FF.

Nothing about this year has knocked HHN off the pedestal. For me personally, at least. However, maybe for the first time ever, I could see that changing down the line as the dynamics of these haunt events continue to shift. It was definitely an interesting year.

Funny you made that baseball connection, haha, because I also agree. I can compare HHN to my Dodgers, where as in they've had some disappointments, I still feel they're the gold standard in their respective industry. And they follow up their down years with very successful ones, so here's hoping there's another parallel haha.

--------

This being said, I don't mind some dynamics shifting, especially when done right, and change *is* necessary! But there's a lot of experimental executions this year that just didn't work and didn't feel like what Horror Nights strives to be or like the event had a heart, only organs. I hope HHN learns the right lessons and doesn't carry over or change because of the wrong ones.

 

[DTH]

Welp, the season has come and gone and for the first time since 2010, I only attended one time. Once was enough. And that's a VERY strange feeling. There were no mazes worth revisiting, imo. Terror Tram was ranked as my number one... TERROR TRAM! (?!?!?!!!!....????!!!!)

I'll skip the fancy language: this year sucked. Everyone I know in person who even bothered to attend has said the same.

 

[Michael S]

Everyone I know in person who even bothered to attend has said the same.

What about the people I know who really enjoyed themselves this year, and have attended for over a decade? This is all subjective, you realize. People enjoy what they enjoy, and dislike what they dislike. The people you know, and the people I know, are not the consensus for an event that may appeal to some folks and not to others. Not defending anything about the event this year. It just seems a little short sighted to chalk it up that way.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Lol

People saying it saying it sucked have no idea what a poor year looks like

Two solid scare zones, most people enjoyed 3+ houses along with many saying this is the best terror tram in a while, the Purge show rocked and Chucky show eat people so lines were lower at houses

It might not be the best year but it far from sucks and is definitely not bad. We have to remember unlike before the event is trying to hit many demo’s not just the older horror fans doing Jason/freddy houses
So maybe it does suck if you want specific IPs but I went like 20 times and would not have of it sucked

 

[Freak]

Welp, the season has come and gone and for the first time since 2010, I only attended one time. Once was enough. And that's a VERY strange feeling. There were no mazes worth revisiting, imo. Terror Tram was ranked as my number one... TERROR TRAM! (?!?!?!!!!....????!!!!)

I'll skip the fancy language: this year sucked. Everyone I know in person who even bothered to attend has said the same.

I mean no one is gonna say this year was amazing, have you actually been to the event in 2017? 2021? Now for those years the event legitimately SUCKED. 2013 was not too far behind.

 

[DTH]

What about the people I know who really enjoyed themselves this year, and have attended for over a decade? This is all subjective, you realize. People enjoy what they enjoy, and dislike what they dislike. The people you know, and the people I know, are not the consensus for an event that may appeal to some folks and not to others. Not defending anything about the event this year. It just seems a little short sighted to chalk it up that way.

Did I make any declarative statement on behalf of any population whatsoever outside of myself ("imo") or the people I spoke to in person ("everyone I know in person")?

I mean no one is gonna say this year was amazing, have you actually been to the event in 2017? 2021? Now for those years the event legitimately SUCKED. 2013 was not too far behind.

2017 at least had some high-highs though (Insidious, Roanoke, The Shining) albeit next to some low-lows (Ash vs. Evil Dead, Saw). I agree 2021 was trash but it does come with a HUGE asterisk next to it that it was a pandemmy year. This year had no excuse of being almost exclusively all mid-to-low tier.

 

[saint.piss]

I thought this year was amazing lol. The only thing that brought it down for me was the operations honestly. The way TMs were handling the lines was genuinely awful. But besides that, all the houses and scare zones were great imo.

 

[KlownzNskullZ]

I thought this year was amazing lol. The only thing that brought it down for me was the operations honestly. The way TMs were handling the lines was genuinely awful. But besides that, all the houses and scare zones were great imo.

it seems like a lot of people are 50/50 on this year. I’m in the camp of HHN being HHN. It’s the same thing every year. I know what to expect from the event. The event is at its best when the Ips are good. Compared to other events like Knotts, who expirement every year, that leads to power house years and houses like paranormal, trick r treat, the seven deadly sins,and 2014 with the 40th event,

This was a normal run of the mill year, maybe below mid. They did a great job with trying to get scarezones back this year, the chucky show was a good idea…. Just didn’t work. They should have tried something else. Idk. Universal seems like Bethesda of haunts… stick to the same old formula just change the IP and call it a day. Its starting to show…..

 

[Jake S]

I don't know how much experimentation we can reasonably expect from a corporately owned theme park Halloween event that has experienced as much success as Horror Nights has. I'm skeptical of the idea that Knott's Scary Farm is any more a paragon of boundary pushing than Horror Nights is.

I think we're at the stage in the cycle (at least in Southern California) where rewarding hyper-local haunts with our money and attendance is more likely to produce more boundary-pushing haunts. Attending those events has more risk (it might actually suck!) but that's kind of the tradeoff. You don't buy a Toyota RAV4 because it pushes the limits, you buy it because you believe it won't suck. Innovation will come from elsewhere.

 

[rageofthegods]

My crackpot belief is that M3gan getting a full house would've gone a long way towards making the lineup feel fuller. She's a fresh and recognizable horror icon (Insidious is older and got overshadowed over the decade by The Conjuring, and nobody knows what the Quiet Place aliens look like) and giving her her own headlined house would've given the lineup some heft.

Next year she'll get her own movie, so we'll see what happens.

I don't know how much experimentation we can reasonably expect from a corporately owned theme park Halloween event that has experienced as much success as Horror Nights has. I'm skeptical of the idea that Knott's Scary Farm is any more a paragon of boundary pushing than Horror Nights is.

I think we're at the stage in the cycle (at least in Southern California) where rewarding hyper-local haunts with our money and attendance is more likely to produce more boundary-pushing haunts. Attending those events has more risk (it might actually suck!) but that's kind of the tradeoff. You don't buy a Toyota RAV4 because it pushes the limits, you buy it because you believe it won't suck. Innovation will come from elsewhere.

Shoutout to Sleepless in Echo Park. Place was awesome.

 

[KlownzNskullZ]

I don't know how much experimentation we can reasonably expect from a corporately owned theme park Halloween event that has experienced as much success as Horror Nights has. I'm skeptical of the idea that Knott's Scary Farm is any more a paragon of boundary pushing than Horror Nights is.

I think we're at the stage in the cycle (at least in Southern California) where rewarding hyper-local haunts with our money and attendance is more likely to produce more boundary-pushing haunts. Attending those events has more risk (it might actually suck!) but that's kind of the tradeoff. You don't buy a Toyota RAV4 because it pushes the limits, you buy it because you believe it won't suck. Innovation will come from elsewhere.

for a traditional haunt yes. 17th door is there too… probably being the more popular “alternative “ haunt

 

[thehorrorlover]

last terror tram was a vibe, it was sad saying goodbye to a good terror tram in my opinion.


spec when?

 

[bdubsCEO]

can we make the 2025 spec thread yet or is it “too early”? i’m ready for the hype

 

[Jake S]

can we make the 2025 spec thread yet or is it “too early”? i’m ready for the hype

by the pricking of my thumbs,,,

 

[Stonecoldfreak1]

I thought this year was amazing lol. The only thing that brought it down for me was the operations honestly. The way TMs were handling the lines was genuinely awful. But besides that, all the houses and scare zones were great imo.

Getting looked directly in the eyes and being yelled at all night to keep moving when I have nowhere to go was utterly ridiculous. The conga lines are tough, but I can get over that. TMs yelling the entire house and breaking the immersion is so messed up.

 

[saint.piss]

Getting looked directly in the eyes and being yelled at all night to keep moving when I have nowhere to go was utterly ridiculous. The conga lines are tough, but I can get over that. TMs yelling the entire house and breaking the immersion is so messed up.

I just think it was dumb that they were sending in people side by side. That was absolutely ridiculous. I don't know why they weren't doing single file lines like they usually do but whatever

 

[Clive]

I just think it was dumb that they were sending in people side by side. That was absolutely ridiculous. I don't know why they weren't doing single file lines like they usually do but whatever

The houses literally aren't built for that kind of guest flow. It leads to constant clogs at best and safety issues at worst (as scare actors in tight areas have nowhere to come out or hide).