Halloween Horror Nights 25 Discussion
- Thread starter Cole
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And I have been enjoying it for years. It actually gets updated every now and again.
I didn't know its age negated its relevancy to this particular conversation.....
My bad.
We did go to HHN for two years without taken our under 13 year old daughter. The second year, we spent a lot of time talking to families (and their kids) that we ran into.
We felt comfortable bringing her last year and we were prepared to leave if we had to, but our daughter loved it last year and had an even better time this year. We have been lucky I guess, but we also talk to her immediately if we see or hear anything that we would hope not to expose her to (but it really has not been bad).
The funny thing (to me) is that I would never take her to EPCOT during food and wine on a Friday or Saturday night...heck, she has seen worse behavior at EPCOT
in the afternoon than she as seen after two years at HHN (we have not been to Disney in at least three years, so those experiences were from some time back, but anyway, we have experienced drinking behavior at theme parks in Orlando, but I do not expect UNI to change for HHN nor do I think an answer is to have a minimum age for HHN.
We felt comfortable bringing her last year and we were prepared to leave if we had to, but our daughter loved it last year and had an even better time this year. We have been lucky I guess, but we also talk to her immediately if we see or hear anything that we would hope not to expose her to (but it really has not been bad).
The funny thing (to me) is that I would never take her to EPCOT during food and wine on a Friday or Saturday night...heck, she has seen worse behavior at EPCOT
in the afternoon than she as seen after two years at HHN (we have not been to Disney in at least three years, so those experiences were from some time back, but anyway, we have experienced drinking behavior at theme parks in Orlando, but I do not expect UNI to change for HHN nor do I think an answer is to have a minimum age for HHN.
Funny you mention that...
I have only been twice to food and wine festival. One time Kool and the Gang were performing. The other was Earth Wind and Fire.
And holy moly, parents were getting DOWN. It was terrifying.
I am going to drive most of you nuts with this question because it has probably been asked and answered many times already.
So, are Wednesdays less busy than Thursday, Fri, Sat? Guaranteed? House times shorter?
So, are Wednesdays less busy than Thursday, Fri, Sat? Guaranteed? House times shorter?
- Feb 15, 2012
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- 47,500
Yes, in general Wednesdays and Sundays are the least busy, followed by Thursdays, then Friday then Saturday. Friday if you go early early isn't too bad until the parking fee goes down and everyone gets off work.
Correct me if I'm wrong guys/Brian/Drew.
Yeah, after thinking about it and peeking at the reviews for last year's HHN, I've decided that I'm just not in love with this year like you guys are. I much preferred last year. I'd say 25 is on par with 23. Hopefully a second visit and getting to go through Insidious will change my mind. Am I completely alone? Or is everyone else pretty much in agreement that this is a return to form?
- Feb 15, 2012
- 17,258
- 47,500
You seem to be in the minority but HHN has always been more of a subjective taste thing.
Yes, in general Wednesdays and Sundays are the least busy, followed by Thursdays, then Friday then Saturday. Friday if you go early early isn't too bad until the parking fee goes down and everyone gets off work.
Correct me if I'm wrong guys/Brian/Drew.
I imagine that is the case as the event gets into October, my experience is with the 2nd week over the last few years (which does not have a Wendsday), but I would swear that Saturday is the slowest and Sunday is the busiest over the four nights of week two. I may be off base, but that is what it felt like to me.
True. I'm really hoping that another visit works out for me. But I don't know, house for house, I just like 24 much more... FvJ < AvP
Run < Giggles and Gore
The Purge < Dollhouse
Walking Dead < Roanoke (from what I've heard)
Monsters and Mayhem > From Dusk Til Dawn
Body Collectors > Dracula
American Werewolf 2 < Walking Dead mega house
and I also loved the Purge and Voodoo zones, moreso than their 2015 counterparts. And Halloween is, quite honestly, probably my number 1 haunted house ever. It was perfect. Nothing like that for me in 2015.
- Sep 23, 2013
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I know a lot of families like to take their younger kids to the event
People just want to have fun at a theme park. It just happens to have a Halloween event going on.
But like Orlandoguy said.... To most people this is a party. A drinking party
An after hours party. A night club kind of party...
It's like hhn Is this bizarro theme park were two events are going on at the same time, a rave and mickeys not so scary Halloween party lol
My ranking of 24 and 25 combined:
1. Body Collectors: Recollections
2. FVJ
3. M&M
4. TWD: End of the Line
5. Halloween
6. Asylum
7. Run
8. Dollhouse
9. AVP
10. Dusk Till Dawn
11. Insidious
12. AWIL
13. Dracula
14. Roanoke
15.. TWD: The Living and the Dead
16. Giggles and Gore
17. The Purge
2. FVJ
3. M&M
4. TWD: End of the Line
5. Halloween
6. Asylum
7. Run
8. Dollhouse
9. AVP
10. Dusk Till Dawn
11. Insidious
12. AWIL
13. Dracula
14. Roanoke
15.. TWD: The Living and the Dead
16. Giggles and Gore
17. The Purge
- May 26, 2010
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2013 was what made me take a year off. I was deeply disappointed. I don't think it's really accurate to compare houses based on the venues they were in... but generally, the only houses in 2013 I thought were worth anything were Evil Dead, AWIL and Cabin. Afterlife was the biggest joke of a house I've ever seen - my local carnival has done better. HAVOC, Resident Evil, and Walking Dead were bad. La Llorona was mediocre and a far cry from the Hollywood iteration. Walking Dead streets... well. That year did have a good Bill & Ted, at least, and I liked 20 Penny Circus.
This year has a very strong house lineup - arguably 4 superior houses (FvJ, BC, M&M, Insidious), 2 excellents (Asylum, AWIL), 2 decents (Purge, Run) and 1 outright stinker (WD). That's a really good lineup and comparable to 2011's unthinkably great lineup. Zones are also really comparable to that year, and the shows are better, to boot. (I'm in the minority of liking [though not loving] Bill and Ted this year.)
It isn't a complete return to form. The ops have gotten worse and worse and worse. The build-up to the event and presentation of elements was piss poor. There's a notable lack of "place" throughout the park, something we saw more in the Roddy years (and is especially apparent since so much of this year draws from 2007's Carnival of Carnage). And the Streets program, though improving, is still a shell of its former shelf (Unleashed notwithstanding).
There's a lot of great things happening, though. Actors *everywhere* in the streets, even if some of the zones are shallow. More actors in the houses, to the point where conga lines can actually be scary. An overall good park atmosphere. An icon show, a real icon in general, even if it's Jack! Actual capacity increases in the 9th house and Diagon! Better designed scares in most houses. Removal of obnoxious upsell "glow light" carts that ruin areas outside of zones.
It isn't back to the "glory days" yet, but this is a huge stride forward, and I'm happy to reward them where it's warranted.
No way liquor gets cut until there is a huge, public incident that makes national news. Universal will bow to pressure. I will note it didn't seem that the alcohol wasn't pushed as hard this year, and I was looking for it (this being my first event of legal age). Way fewer blood bag girls and pop-up bars, though that shift might have started last year, perhaps?
- Sep 23, 2013
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- Apr 18, 2013
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The majority of the time the people who become a problem consume their alcohol before they even get to the event.
Oh man I love talking HHN! Here's my take...
As for the zones, I actually didn't LOVE any of them this year...even in 2010, which people think was pretty lackluster, we had Acid Assault which was awesome. And Saws N Steam is probably the most creative scarezone I've personally ever seen. Again, this year was basically more been-there, done-that. Fog in Central Park, check. Photo op zone, check. Huge New York area with a couple big sets, check. Nothing jumped out at me on that front either.
I agree that FvJ and BC are very good houses...I personally think that M&M is too much of a mish-mash, with poor flow and not enough time spent developing each room to be totally effective. And I didn't experience Insidious so I can't speak to that. But even in those good houses, I didn't see anything memorable. While Body Collectors had a great facade...we've seen better before. It had great sets, but we've seen sets on par to them before. Even the kill scenes and gory effects were mostly recycled. Same with FvJ...great sets and all that, but nothing revolutionary. To me, nothing memorable. Meanwhile, the top tier houses of 24 brought us Halloween, one of the most intense houses in recent memory, the creepy and largely original Dollhouse of the Damned which had some very unique, disturbing imagery, and not one single house on the level of this year's Walking Dead or even Purge. And I don't really count AWiL as a plus to this year because, it's a repeat, and because it seemed very inferior than 2013 to me this time around. Basically, while everything was *good*, nothing stood out to me as "Whoa". Even Walking Dead last year was given the super-length treatment to make it stand out.
As for the zones, I actually didn't LOVE any of them this year...even in 2010, which people think was pretty lackluster, we had Acid Assault which was awesome. And Saws N Steam is probably the most creative scarezone I've personally ever seen. Again, this year was basically more been-there, done-that. Fog in Central Park, check. Photo op zone, check. Huge New York area with a couple big sets, check. Nothing jumped out at me on that front either.
I'm glad you said this, especially about the lack of "place"...I was starting to think I was just getting jaded or whatever, but yeah, I definitely think there's a distinct atmosphere missing that used to be there. That sucks, it's what made HHN special and not just a bunch of haunted houses and later park hours.
Yeah, 100% agree, again, HHN is a party and that won't change anytime soon. Sure, Hollywood doesn't do alcohol, but they also don't do big grand facades, 9 houses, new houses each year, or the huge amount of crowds we do. Liquor ain't goin anywhere.
Definitely. Unless you're willing to drop a lot of cash, getting drunk AT the event is pretty tough. I was drinking pretty consistently throughout the whole thing and never got more than a slight buzz before I ran out of cash. Before I was of legal age, I would pre-game the heck out of it though, and probably acted like an obnoxious drunk teenager, point being that even if you stop selling alcohol, that won't stop people.
