Ok, so opening night was pretty much a bust for me and the kid. Last year he LOVED HHN, hit all the houses but one, this year=freak out. I don't get it, but anyways, we did the two AP early houses and then he refused to go in anymore. So, we spent a lot of times in the scarezones. Now I have 6 houses to go in and need a friend to go to HHN with!!
So we did Chucky first-B+ I loved it honestly. The damn monkeys scared the crap out of me just like I thought. People in front of and behind us got a nice laugh. Not gory at all, well lit, tons of good jumps and really a lot of fun.
Then we did Silver Screams. A-
This is where the kid freaked out, lol Great scenes and good layout. I thought the scareactors were still asleep, didn't get many jumps, just lots of standing and staring. The strangers set is awesome, but they just stood there? Hello, at least yell at me or something already. Killer from My Bloody Valentine almost took my head off with a pick axe-NICE!!!! Something happened in here though that's never happened to me before at HHN. I peed myself. Not really, we got LOST!! There is a part near the end that is so friggin dark apparently a couple people in front of us went the wrong way. So, all of a sudden it's like pitch black and the line is crawlingly slow, I see lots of wires and lights that look like a soundboard up on the wall. We all keep going and find a door, it leads outside to the back of the parade building. Hmmm, that's not right. So we go back and I see a door that says "scareactor entrance." I fling the door open and we are literally in a scene where there's a white movie screen playing something and the conga line is moving through. So, what the hell, I jump out at the guests and scream "MOVIES!!!" I figured I always wanted to be a scareactor anyways right?
So the guests jump of course, which is just priceless. Then I say "sorry, apparently we took a wrong turn." We move into the line and finish the house. Probably the most fun I've had at HHN to be honest with you. Maybe that's what freaked my son out? who knows.
So, we spent a lot of time in the scarezones, so I'll review those!
1.
Containment-C
Inflatable containment things were cool, guy up on the army jeep telling you to get out was funny. I heard him yell "Hey, girl, get the hell off your phone, I'm trying to save your life!" Scareactors looked really good, did a good job but I think they didn't have much atmosphere to work with. Fog-fail. Um, wall of fog, not quite. More like faint misty morning. They need to triple the smoke in here. The green lighting is great but they need way more smoke.
2.
War of the living Dead-A+
LOVED this one, went through it like 10 times. Atmosphere, costumes, scareactors were fantastic. The flame thrower is a little weaker than I expected but it was ok. Great zone, not to be missed
3.
Apocalypse-city of cannibals-D
And it's only not gettting an F because the props were cool and the fire hydrant shooting water out was a nice touch. This is more like Apocalypse-city of buff frat boys with bad hair crouching in the street. BORING. There were 4 "cannibals" and two city people when we were there. Didn't see much energy from anyone honestly. There is no smoke at all. It was just bad and not scary. I would imagine your everyday guest didn't realize they were even in a scarezone. So hey Universal, that spot is horrible for a scarezone too, why not use the path between the lagoon and twister where the back to the future car is. Only thing in there was a funnel cake vendor.
3.
Cirque du Freak-A
I was sad I never did find Kevin, maybe next time! This is a tough location IMO but the actors brought it home, great job. The
only scarezone we actually got good scares in all night. The guy that was making that screeching noise was fantastic. All the costumes were great. The scareactors were very generous and posing for pictures with everyone.
Side note: I found all the scareactors in the scare zones to really be very accomodating for picture taking this year: Thank you! In the past I have found typically they don't like to stop and pose.
Very fun zone, nice job!
4.
Lights, camera, hacktion!-A
Of course anywhere the chainsaws are is gonna be fun, but they did a nice job. The bloodied and running around screaming movie crew were great. I loved watching the chainsaw guys chasing the movie set crew, then see you and come after you. The big sky spotlights were cool at night too. Another fun and nicely detailed zone, IMO.
5.
Horrorwood die in-B-
As we have all seen the props and set are amazing. The scareactors looked great and were getting good scares. I said B- because I think this zone has way more potential than it is delivering. The actors did nothing with the cars. Have them jump out of the cars once in a while. Set off the lights and horn when guests are walking by would be great too. It's good, don't get me wrong, could be better is all. The movie clips and ads on the drive-in screen were really funny.
Bill and Ted-B
So disclaimer, I'm 37 and listen to country so I didn't know a few of the songs and the whole music video thing at the end with (T-Pain?? I think??) yeah, I was lost on that one. It was a good show though, had for the most part all funny stuff. I don't want to be spoiler guy so I won't divulge details, but if you're going it's definitely worth seeing this year. Too much Star Trek though, really? Was that movie that popular? I'm waiting for netflix, lol
So, we had fun but I have to get back quick and go through the houses!!! If anyone wants to meet up on a FFP night shoot me a message!!! My wife isn't a HHN fan and my HHN buddy has gone south, so sad. At the risk of making this the longest post ever I'll put up a few pics we got that I haven't seen on here yet anyways!
---------- Post added at 09:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:16 AM ----------
Gonna double post, so sue me, that one was getting too long. Here's some pictures from opening night:
We did the AP get in early thing, got there right at 5pm, line was HUGE. We were done with both houses by 5:30. They won't let you out until 6:30 when the gates open so if you do this don't bother getting there too early. Just a tip! For a second, just, eh forget it...
Door to chucky, good booming music to get you pumped up, then Chucky doing his little chant thing was pretty cool.
Notice the fire hydrant, cool touch.
"Say Hello to my little friend!" Hey Rewster, it's Joe Montana!! LOL!
They had ushers outside the main gates which did a nice job of setting the mood. Also the live usher in the ticket booth was great!
HHN merchandise-take a Billy doll home for the little ones, ha ha!
Cirque du freak scareactors looked great, just like the movie shots I've seen!
Apocalypse, should have called it disaster. I mean really, I see the website and think "whoa, this is gonna be amazing zone, scary monsters!" I see scary monsters and go, HUH? I was expecting something like the cemetary mine scarezone several years ago at IOA, THOSE were scary! These dudes, not so much.
"you're gonna want to turn and go the other way, this is a level 3 containment area, GET OFF YOUR PHONE, I'M TELLING YOU YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!!!" awesome.