Halloween Horror Nights XX: Twenty Years of Fear

[Drew]

Wish you were here bro!

Thanks brother. October 28th isn't too far away.

Actually, it is.

 

[Jimpossible87]

ABSOLUTELY GREAT pics...thanks for sharing!!!!

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DISCLAIMER: The contents in this review are solely MY opinion, and will merely state as that. If you do not like my opinions on certain houses/Scarezones, then you might as well stop reading on. There are also potential spoilers in this review, so be wary when reading this.

Rating System
My rating system is going upon the total amount of houses/scarezones are in this year’s event, and my rating towards them.

So, last night I had the pleasure of attending the HHN XX: 20 Years of Fear Team Member Preview, or ‘Advance Screaming’ as they like to call it. Let me just say, that I felt that the event was truly better than the past 2 years combined. The houses seemed more intense than last year and the Scarezones, although some lacking in scares, had great amounts of detail. So, with that brief introduction, let’s get things rolling, shall we?

HAUNTED HOUSES

Catacombs: Black Death Rising - While waiting in line, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “This house could be scary, could not be scary. What is it going to be like?” Well, it turns out that this house was definitely a scary haunted house to me. The scares were really there and the really enclosed passageways really made you feel like you were in a cave with morbid doctors trying to kill you. The details were awesome, and I think this is the better house in the tents this year. My Rating: 7 out of 8 skulls.

Havoc: Dogs of War – I think this is one of the worst houses the sprung tents have ever housed, to be perfectly honest. While the details were good and the scareactors doing a great job, the scare factor just wasn’t there for me, to be honest. I think I made it out of that house without even jumping once. In my opinion, the theme of a military-based haunted house is just not that appealing to me and the only exception to that statement is The Thing: Assimilation. I am hoping that this house will improve as the event progresses. My Rating: 5 out of 8 skulls.

Horror Nights: The Hallow’d Past – This house left me speechless to no end upon exiting from the house. The detail Art and Design put into this house was phenomenal. While it is true that the scareactors really didn’t come into play until the middle part of the house and that the house really focused on events post-2005, the theme of the house is what drives this to being a fan favorite. I am definitely looking forward to seeing how the scareactors improve in this house. My Rating: 8 out of 8 skulls.

Legendary Truth: The Wyandot Estate – As an avid member of Legendary Truth: THE COLLECTIVE, I was pumped up to be experiencing the very first Legendary Truth haunted house. The theme of the house intrigued me as I have never seen a paranormal-based haunt at HHN in the years I have been attending. The technology in the house was out of this world, but I feel that I kept missing the best of it. That isn’t nothing that several more runs will not accomplish for me. The house was one of the best I had been through and truly a unique concept. My Rating: 8 out of 8 skulls.

Hades: The Gates of Ruin – Let me start off by saying I am an avid fan of ancient Greece and Greek mythology. When I entered the soundstage and saw the façade, I absolutely fell in love with this house. The costuming, scares, and details were beyond amazing, and I felt that the scareactors were doing a phenomenal job. The unfortunate character that was missing from the house was Hades, and I sure do hope that they find him soon. I can see this being a runner up for House of the Year at the end of the run. My Rating: 8 out of 8 skulls.

ZombieGeddon – I was pleasantly surprised by how scary this house was. The Disaster! queue and the JAWS queue are notorious for having “bomb” houses each HHN. ZombieGeddon is by far not a sleeper hit. The details were amazing, as well as the theme of the house. Hey, you have to admit that it’d be tough to survive a zombie Armageddon. I entered the line with the assumption that this would be a comedy house, and it turns out I was wrong. My Rating: 7 out of 8 skulls.

The Orfanage: Ashes to Ashes – Ok, so this is the second haunted house this year that I have to be kind of sour about. While it was great seeing Cindy in her own haunted house this year, the storyline and details could have been significantly better than what they are now. If they had stuck to keeping Cindy with the Caretaker, this house would have been a huge hit. But unfortunately, I don’t see how a house about a bunch of little kids burning down their orphanage can be a really good house. Maybe it will grow on me during the event, but as of last night, it really didn’t impress me at all. Oh, and only like, what, 10 seconds of the fire in a house? REALLY? My Rating: 4 out of 8 skulls.

SCAREZONES

20 Years of Fear – This scarezone, along with Fear Revealed, proved to me to be the better of the scarezones at this year’s event. It was great seeing all of the characters from years’ past, including Mary Shaw and the Red Queen from Asylum in Wonderland again, but the best part of the scarezone was they had the CRYPT KEEPER. My Rating: 6 out of 6 skulls.

Fear Revealed – Seeing the icons of years past really brought back a lot of memories, and a first photograph with Jack for me! It was awesome seeing Eddie in the scarezone, but I wish they had put someone in that role with black hair. The blond hair just doesn’t really cut it. Chance was looking awesome as was Cindy. Fear is a badass. Let me just say that now. My Rating: 6 out of 6 skulls.

Esqueleto Muerte – There really isn’t much to say about this lackluster scarezone. The area looked GREAT at night, but the scares weren’t all that abundant. The scareactors in this area looked rather bored and uninterested with scaring anyone. My Rating: 2 out of 6 skulls.

Zombie Gras – This was the first year in a while we have seen Creative link a house and a scarezone together, and while the concept was amazing, the actual scary part of this zone was not…well, scary? Not once did I jump during the scarezone after 2 times of walking through it, but the thought of a Zombie Mardi Gras just doesn’t really seem to be scary to me. Sorry to anyone in this scarezone, but the following rating really reflects on how they are doing. My Rating: 0 out of 6 skulls.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Unfortunately, I missed out on seeing Saws and Steam, The Coven, Brian Brushwood: Menace and Malice, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure¸ and PsychoScareapy: The Echoes of Shadybrook due to time constraints. I am, however, returning to the event on Friday evening to check out these remaining attractions before I can say I am a HHN 20 veteran. From what I have seen last night, this year’s event is amazing, and I cannot wait to see where it goes from here.

really great job on your review!...I am very excited to be going this thursday night and it sounds like this is really going to be the best year ever for HHN as I had hoped and expected so far.

 

[Rock'nRoller]

An OU Tweet:

Catacombs was great. Wish it wasn't so short.

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Other OU Tweet:

Hallow'd Past was great. Awesome trip down memory lane

 

[UnIvErSaLnErD]

UPDATE: From Universal Mobile Wait times as of 10pm
Catacombs 5min
Havoc 20min
Zombiegeddon 40min
Hades 45min
Legendary Truth 10min
Hallow'd Past 30min
Psychoscarepy 30min
Orfanage 30 min

Seems very dead tonight for opening weekend, wish i was there!

 

[Vyrus]

Wow those times bode very well for me tomm night woohoo :happy:

Dont forget to follow me @MarcVyrus I will be tweeting as much as I can while I am as sober as possible

 

[Alex]

UPDATE: From Universal Mobile Wait times as of 10pm
Catacombs 5min
Havoc 20min
Zombiegeddon 40min
Hades 45min
Legendary Truth 10min
Hallow'd Past 30min
Psychoscarepy 30min
Orfanage 30 min

Seems very dead tonight for opening weekend, wish i was there!

Where do you get the wait times from?

 

[Meatwad18]

Where do you get the wait times from?

Well those are some low times for opening night lol should og gona tonight i figured it would be packed

 

[erin1789]

Someone review Bill and Ted!

 

[Meatwad18]

Someone review Bill and Ted!

Please they are MOST EXCELLENT

 

[Alex]

Well those are some low times for opening night lol should og gona tonight i figured it would be packed

yeaah, how did you get the times though?

 

[Jymmymack]

I'm waiting on some real detailed, step-by-step walkthroughs of all these houses. So if all you FFPers could help us people stuck out in sticks with that, it would be so appreciated. You have no idea how jealous I am of all you that get to experience HHN. Hope you have a great time!

 

[Meatwad18]

I'm waiting on some real detailed, step-by-step walkthroughs of all these houses. So if all you FFPers could help us people stuck out in sticks with that, it would be so appreciated. You have no idea how jealous I am of all you that get to experience HHN. Hope you have a great time!

Thanks lol

 

[Andy]

Here is my "quick" review from tonight,

Tonight marked the beginning of HHN XX and my 9th consecutive year of attendance. I arrived at the park at about 4:30 PM and kudos to Universal for the easy check in and structured event, it really went well. If any one has the chance to do the pass holder event DO IT! OK I am tired and I will keep this spoiler free and will elaborate further in the appropriate threads for houses discussion. And as always opening night has a bunch of hiccups within the houses and it takes time for these houses to reach there full scare potential so I am positive my grades will change throughout the event as things are changed and tinkered with.

Horror Nights of Hallow'd Past-Second best house of the event. It was a great house and any fan of HHN will LOVE this house, I know I did. 5/5

Catacombs-Before the event started I will admit I had little hope for this house and I was very mistaken. This house delivered big time. I thought the sets were great, and aside from one other house the actors were very aggressive and into there roles. 4/5

Dogs of War-I thought the house was ok, the actors tried but it just didn't come together tonight for me. There is potential so well see. 2.5/5

Orphanage-I was excited for this house I really was, I thought for sure this was going to be a "fan" house, and possibly a huge hit. This is the worst house since Reflections of Fear. I am sorry, if your an actor in this house because I know its gotta be tough but this one is a stinker sorry. 1.5/5

Zombiegheddon-I really enjoyed this house, it was fun,entertaining, and had a couple of scares here and there. Some of the effects used in this house had me laughing and wanting more. This house has HUGE potential. 3/5

Hades-I love this house, the sets are great but the best part is the actor costumes. The house has good flow not much "dead" space and the scare actors really gave it there all. Two of the nights best scares came from this house. 5/5

Psychoscareapy-As it stands right now this is my least favorite of the PS franchise. The sets were cool but at the same time a lot of the elements you see have been used in previous versions of PS. And whats with all the actors just staring and not doing anything? 3/5

Legendary Truth-This was my favorite house of the night. The facade is stunning, the concept is original and well executed. Its very creepy and has some great scares. 5/5

I didn't do Bill and Ted as I promised my fiance I would not do it without her since she couldn't go tonight.

I am not going to go into the scarezones because I really didn't get a chance to go through all of them with actors due to time of day, and the rain storms tonight. Here are a few pictures sorry I didn't get more but again between the rain and bad exposures there is just not much worth sharing. Enjoy!

 

[Meatwad18]

Here is my "quick" review from tonight,

Tonight marked the beginning of HHN XX and my 9th consecutive year of attendance. I arrived at the park at about 4:30 PM and kudos to Universal for the easy check in and structured event, it really went well. If any one has the chance to do the pass holder event DO IT! OK I am tired and I will keep this spoiler free and will elaborate further in the appropriate threads for houses discussion. And as always opening night has a bunch of hiccups within the houses and it takes time for these houses to reach there full scare potential so I am positive my grades will change throughout the event as things are changed and tinkered with.

Horror Nights of Hallow'd Past-Second best house of the event. It was a great house and any fan of HHN will LOVE this house, I know I did. 5/5

Catacombs-Before the event started I will admit I had little hope for this house and I was very mistaken. This house delivered big time. I thought the sets were great, and aside from one other house the actors were very aggressive and into there roles. 4/5

Dogs of War-I thought the house was ok, the actors tried but it just didn't come together tonight for me. There is potential so well see. 2.5/5

Orphanage-I was excited for this house I really was, I thought for sure this was going to be a "fan" house, and possibly a huge hit. This is the worst house since Reflections of Fear. I am sorry, if your an actor in this house because I know its gotta be tough but this one is a stinker sorry. 1.5/5

Zombiegheddon-I really enjoyed this house, it was fun,entertaining, and had a couple of scares here and there. Some of the effects used in this house had me laughing and wanting more. This house has HUGE potential. 3/5

Hades-I love this house, the sets are great but the best part is the actor costumes. The house has good flow not much "dead" space and the scare actors really gave it there all. Two of the nights best scares came from this house. 5/5

Psychoscareapy-As it stands right now this is my least favorite of the PS franchise. The sets were cool but at the same time a lot of the elements you see have been used in previous versions of PS. And whats with all the actors just staring and not doing anything? 3/5

Legendary Truth-This was my favorite house of the night. The facade is stunning, the concept is original and well executed. Its very creepy and has some great scares. 5/5

I didn't do Bill and Ted as I promised my fiance I would not do it without her since she couldn't go tonight.

I am not going to go into the scarezones because I really didn't get a chance to go through all of them with actors due to time of day, and the rain storms tonight. Here are a few pictures sorry I didn't get more but again between the rain and bad exposures there is just not much worth sharing. Enjoy!

Nice images hope u had fun i cant wait to go my first time i hope im not too scared im only 13 XD

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I love the picture of jack Hes my fav and whats the haunted house with the two pumpkins standing at the entrance ?

 

[Andy]

--- Update ---

[/COLOR]whats the haunted house with the two pumpkins standing at the entrance ?

Its Hallow'd Past

 

[SleepyBeagle]

Bill & Ted had one of the most unexpected characters ever! Doctor Who! and not the Matt Smith one, the David Tennant era Doctor!!! Other than that, the show was mediocre. Some laughs, but I wasn't really digging the pop culture characters they chose. However, the sci-fi character made up for it all!

 

[Meatwad18]

OoOoOoOoO

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No spoilers lol cant wait CANT WAIT CANT WAIT OMG FIRST YEAR CANT WAIT its the only thing i think about in school lol i cant stop thinking about it

--- Update ---

No spoilers lol cant wait CANT WAIT CANT WAIT OMG FIRST YEAR CANT WAIT its the only thing i think about in school lol i cant stop thinking about it :drool5:

 

[Felipe]

Tonight was a lot of fun! My night had some highs and some lows, but an overall great experience :thumbs: Got to do everything except for Hades :-( but Im ready to take full advantage of my FFP and Im not gonna miss any houses this year ;-) I also need to give some houses a second chance, mostly because of bad timing on my walk through. Anyways, more on that and some pics tomorrow. Between the rain, the fog, and my camera's battery dying, I could not get many good pics, but I'll post what I have.

*Yawn* I'm so tired... G'night!

 

[figment1986]

Bill & Ted had one of the most unexpected characters ever! Doctor Who! and not the Matt Smith one, the David Tennant era Doctor!!! Other than that, the show was mediocre. Some laughs, but I wasn't really digging the pop culture characters they chose. However, the sci-fi character made up for it all!

sadly like 8/10 people in the audience would have zero idea who he is.. even with the joke with the show title in it...
(Can we get him to stick around for photo ops.. lol)

 

[SweeneysGalMegz]

Where do you get the wait times from?

Last year I believe there was a mobile number you could text and get wait times texted to you every so often. I'm not sure if that's where Universal Nerd got them, though.