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Halloween Horror Nights 22 Discussion

I went last night and it didn't feel miserable. It was crowded but I still was able to enjoy the legions scaring and get some houses and shows in too.
 
Got their early last night, right when it opened and got on Minion Mayhem in less than 5 minutes, went to Silent Hill to wait about 15 minutes, then House of Horrors (one of my favorites) with a 10 min wait, Alice Cooper for 10 minute wait, 35 minutes for Penn & Teller, 15 for MIB, about 80 mins for The Walking Dead, 75 for Gothic. HRRR was closed as well as Mummy when we wanted to ride around 11.

First time and it was just so crowded and I'm underage that I didn't have the fun I could've. SOOO many people it was incredible... I was impressed with how the houses looked but they weren't very terrifying (for me at least). I barely ran into any scare actors and unfortunately due to the wind there was barely any fog.

Still fun though, just wouldn't go with the park filled with that many people ever again!!
 
We did Stay and Scream and they let us out at 5:45 last night. We hit up Silent Hill and the Gothic back to back and wasn't even 6 yet. We walked by Dead End but wasn't open until 6:30 so we went to Walking Dead and walked right in. Kinda stunk that it was still light out but a small sacrifice we made to keep our game plan of hitting all the houses alive. After WD we headed to the other side of the park and went to House of Horror and that is we're we ran into our first wait of the night at a whopping 5 min or so. Once done with that house we headed to Alive Cooper and had out first legimate wait at around 15 min give or take since I wasn't really keeping track. From there we went to Penn and Teller and waited about 20 min or so. By that time it was after 7 and figured the houses would be getting busy, especially the studio house but figured we would double back over to Dead End to see why the wait time was. Saw that it was only 30 mins so jumped in like and waited. Went thru the house and came out and saw it jumper to 60min so got there in perfect timing. Finished will all the house a little after 8 and then waited for the 9:15 Bill and Tedd then watched 20Penny walked around some more and called it a night around 12.

I was not impressed by the hordes and they always seemed like theye were in the same areas and not really roaming. Walking around made me miss the scare zones a lot and left me feeling like the event was lacking something. All in all though it was a great night as still had a blast.
 
I was not impressed by the hordes and they always seemed like theye were in the same areas and not really roaming. Walking around made me miss the scare zones a lot and left me feeling like the event was lacking something. All in all though it was a great night as still had a blast.

Pretty much sums up my experience (stay and scream is wonderful). It was my first time and I loved it, but if I had the option to go to last year's instead I'd probably pick that.
 
Pretty much sums up my experience (stay and scream is wonderful). It was my first time and I loved it, but if I had the option to go to last year's instead I'd probably pick that.

I was actually surprised how early they let us out into the park, wasnt complaining about that at all :happy: Scarezones or not I love he event every year and will go every year as long as Im able to.
 
Okay, so my opinions changed quite a bit on a few things after my trip these past days.

Gothic and Dead End remain my top two for this year. They were both consistent for my 4+ walkthroughs each. Absolutely phenomenal. And with each walkthrough, I was able to catch new details. So again, phenomenal. Silent Hill is still at number three, but House of Horrors has also tied for number three. House of Horrors GREATLY improved since Opening Weekend. I loved it so much this week that I tried my best to walkthrough more than once. Alice Cooper also grew on me. After two more walkthroughs, the story really came together for me. (The kitchen scene, especially.) The Walking Dead is still fun, but nothing special. And certainly not worth triple digit waits as I saw at the later hours of my visits. Penn and Teller just didn't get old for me. While the sets certainly aren't on par with the soundstages, or even Cooper, the other tent house for that matter, it's still a consistently fun house.

My fun in the streets decreased. As much as I loved the energy of the actors (the Warriors were phenomenal, no matter where they were), the crowds on certain streets did the hordes no justice. The best spots to walk through were Sting Alley and Central Park, for sure. The other areas seemed to get very washed out. I would love to see the return of scarezones next year, with a horde or two to cover the dead space.

Regardless, it was still a very fun event, and like Hockeyman said above, I'll return every year so long as I am able to.
 
Went last night and actually had a really successful night. Knocked everything out with Stay and Scream and saw Bill and Ted and a lagoon show. Left around 10:20.
 
Ok, this is my brief review/thoughts of my first trip to HHN since 2004...

First off, for those that convinced me to get the Express pass THANK YOU...seriously worth every penny. We were able to do all the houses and most of the rides, and have lots of fun on the streets without running around like idiots. The longest wait we had was 15 mins for Walking Dead (which was a 150 min wait for the regualr folks). Going to list everything I did in order.

Got at the park at 6:45..headed for

Rip Ride Rocket...20 min wait..and it worked out as the sun was just about set and the full moon was out when we rode.
REALLY surprised with all the negative comments on this ride, we found it to be lots of fun, and not rough at ALL. I wanted to litearlly line up again, but we had other houses to do.

- Gothic - was a bit disappointed with this house given all the hype and positive reviews. Set pieces were really nice, but I just didn't find this ALL too scary, maybe I just had bad timing?
- Dead End - This house was our favorite by FAR. Scared the crap of us so much that we liteally wanted it to end. Atmosphere, ScareActors, and Set pieces were just straight up amazing. If only all the other houses were this good.
- Revenge of Mummy - Lots of fun as always.
- Dinner at Finnegans - I mention this because this was also a part of the experience. As the Street scare actors came into the restaurant several times while we were eating and got us pretty good once or twice.
- Walking Dead - way better then what people have been saying on this board, maybe my expectations were lowered, but I generally really enjoyed this house. I have a bias towards the show and zombies in general though.
- MIB - this was one of the WORST theme park rides I've ever been on, seriously, it was straight up stupid. My wife literally just put the gun down in the middle of the ride in boredom. I managed 200,000, but still felt like I was just shooting nothing. Definitely the only low point of the night.
- Penn and Tellar - we LOVED this house, we were litearlly laughing are asses off throughout. I thought the ideas here were jsut brilliant, not all that scary but a lot of fun. The 3D effect was also a lot more impressive then what I read here.
- Alice Cooper - Gotta say this was another fun house, but kinda of silly. We had a few good scares (like the gym teacher yelling at us),
- House of Horrors - Biggest disappointment of the night for us, as I was really looking forward to it. The only great part was the ending, the rest felt very cheap and just average compared to the rest of the houses.
- Silent Hill. - Enjoyed this one too, as I am a fan of the series. Wish there was more Pyramid Head, as we only caught a glimpse of him, but overall I felt it was still a fun house. Ash effect was working by the way.

Finally, I want to talk about this Scare Zones/ non Scare Zones. Not sure if we just got lucky with the weather, but the street actors were EVERYWHERE. Not only in the streets, but in our restaurant, at the lockers, even in the bathroom! I thought this was WAY better then having designated/over crowded scare zones, and I hope they keep this format.

We left the park at 1:30 am...

Overall we loved it, and would go back again very soon...would never go without Express pass from now on.
 
Glad you had a great time. As far as Rockit goes, seems like you got the good train. :lol:

For anyone who has used our guide for this year (or last), was it helpful?
 
Order of houses (from favorite to least favorite) for me were.
Dead End
Penn and Tellar
Walking Dead
Gothic
Silent Hill
Alice Cooper
House of Horrors.
 
Order of houses (from favorite to least favorite) for me were.
Dead End
Penn and Tellar
Walking Dead
Gothic
Silent Hill
Alice Cooper
House of Horrors.

Our opinions differ in some areas (especially MIB and House of Horrors), but I absolutely agree with your assessments on Gothic and Dead End. I thought the latter was easily the #1 house of the event... Gothic underwhelmed me ever so slightly. It's a great house, but it isn't the end-all be-all. Pretty sets do not make a house.
 
Our opinions differ in some areas (especially MIB and House of Horrors), but I absolutely agree with your assessments on Gothic and Dead End. I thought the latter was easily the #1 house of the event... Gothic underwhelmed me ever so slightly. It's a great house, but it isn't the end-all be-all. Pretty sets do not make a house.

Agreed! Gothic was impressive for sure, but I feel like the love is generated from it's pathetic competition. Had Gothic been a part of last year, I feel like it would not have been quite as popular. Dead End was great though, in that it mixed originality and good set design/effects, but unlike Gothic was uncomfortably scary (IMO). Best house of the night by far, though again I don't know how it would've held up had it been a part of last year's magnificent lineup.
 
I probably just had a bad run through Gothic, or maybe since it was my first ever haunt I was too nervous/guard was up to appreciate it. I was able to do Dead End twice and by far it was my favorite. There was a scareactor at the end who nearly had me jump out of my skin.
 
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