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Halloween Horror Nights 29 (UO): Reviews & Photos

Brian G.

Editor-in-Chief
Jan 21, 2008
24,678
53,887
Orlando, FL
Please share your opinions, reviews, photos, and videos of this year's event here.

Reminder: There will be SPOILERS in this thread.

PLEASE LIMIT OFF-TOPIC RESPONSES AND KEEP DISCUSSION LIMITED TO ONLY PHOTOS AND REVIEWS.
 
I just wanna say WOW! What a year this is gonna be there was only one house of the 7 I did that I thought could use improvement and that was nightingales blood pit! The biggest shocker for me was just how good house of 1000 corpses was! I love the projections of the wacky transitions and the final captain spaulding scare!!! But the true MVP of this year so far has to go to monsters!
 
Full review at a point but crowds were...SHOCKINGLY good tonight so I got everything done except Stranger Things.

Graveyard Games was the best original, blew me out of the water.

Uni Monsters held up to my expectations and this was my favorite IP.

Nightingales I got rushed through so I need to do that again. But those new designs...ehhhh...

Depths is probably gonna stay my bottom house. The full size Mouthbrooders, I actually wish they’d been kept limited. They ain’t that scary.

Horrible run on GB where I got stopped in Janine’s room for a good few minutes then got rushed through it all. Need to hit that again soon.

Everything was fun honestly. Scares were there in each house but not as many in my opinion. From what I saw.

I don’t zone observe as much but Rob Zombie looked rocking.
 
I did 8 houses and all sz tonight without express. Crowds were so much smaller compared to last years opening. This is my ranking so far.

nightingales- we were completely alone and I got every single scare.
Universal Monsters- designs were incredible and got lots of scares, one of the scareactors approached me while I was exiting the park and told me I was one of his best scares.
kkfos- So much fun and true to the movie, starting singing along to the theme and dancing and one of the clowns joined in.
us- Sets were incredible and casting was pretty good, a lot of great scares and creepy atmosphere.
graveyard games- I got a few scares and the facade was incredible, storyline was kinda weird.
yeti- Great atmosphere and the yetis that are above you are a nice touch.
depths of fear- the creatures were big fishes, the dog was probably a good boy.
ghostbusters- Had super high expectations and was sadly let down, wasn’t a huge fan of how the stay puft man was done.
 
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Didn’t go, moved to TN :(, but watched a lot on YouTube and I am THRILLED that the fountain show adds energy to the event that I’ve felt it has lacked since HHN 25. Looks like it’s going to be a great year and I might have to bite the bullet and drive down closer to November.
 
I went last night and I’m going again tonight! Got 11 house walkthroughs with doing every house at least 1 and Monsters 2.
HHN 29 rankings

Houses:

1) Depths
2) Nightingales
3) Graveyard Games
4) Monsters
5) Yeti
6) Killer Klowns
7) Ghostbusters
8) Us
9) House of a 1000 Courpses
10) Stranger Things


SZs:

1)Aranch-cade
2) Vanity Ball
3) Vikings
4) Rob Zombie
5) Zombieland
Of course this was the first night so my list might change later down the road of the event.
HHN 29 rankings

Houses:

1) Depths- AMAZING!! The Creatures looks amazing. I put it low on my list since Legacy said mostly infected miners which was wrong.
2) Nightingales- Amazing!! The facade was just awesome with a Nightingale outside of it in the front. The Nightingales changed and looked awesome. The house was dark which I like.
3) Graveyard Games- Was a creepy house. No facade outside which is a bummer but inside you walked though the graveyard gates which is awesome. Felt like Seeds, Dead Exposer(from last year), and Poltrogiest.
4) Monsters- Loved this house! The Key art and projections at the front where awesome. The facade inside was short but sweet. It did have rain effects in the facade room which I love. The rooms portrayed the monsters perfectly.
5) Yeti- Was cold but not super cold. I did get wet in some rooms and so did my friend. Had a callback to Swamp Yeti at the end.
6) Killer Klowns- Best house in Shrek. Scary at times but also fun at times. Fun to walkthough with an amazing puppet room. Portrayed the movie well.
7) Ghostbusters- Fun to walkthrough but not scary. Portrayed the movie well.
8) Us- What I expected. Cool sets but not really scary. Facade was awesome.
9) House of a 1000 Corpuses- Best house in the MIB tent. Facade was amazing. I didn’t like the movie so that might be why I put this so low.
10) Stranger Things- Lack of scaries and when’s they where there were not good. Felt like an all year round attraction disappointing.

SZs:

1)Aranch-cade- Amazing Zone! Best zone in that area. The Laser roof was cool. The outfits in this zone was awesome. Felt like you where in a game room.
2) Vanity Ball- A fun zone. Was cool that a runway was in the middle of the road and the people on this zone looked great. The music in this zone was awesome. Felt like a party.
3) Vikings- Was cool but not what I expected. Felt like any other CP zone.
4) Rob Zombie- Had cool sets but I do not like his music, which might be why it’s low. It was a good zone for the SF area.
5) Zombieland- Had cool sets but I didn’t see any of the characters. I might have just Walk though it at a bad time but it was disappointing.
 
These thoughts are only from opening night and will be brief because I only did them once, once i get through them more than that I will have more to say. I did not get to do Stranger Things because I got to the event late and kind walked around for almost 2 hours before starting to hit houses. The houses are in the order that I did them. There might be some spoilers in here.

Graveyard Games: I really liked the sets in this house and the costumes were scary. I need to go through this more because being my first house of the season I always tend to get a lot more scared and mellow out later in the night. I enjoyed it enough, but nothing really stands out too much for me (besides a pitch black hallway that I'm not sure if there was anything in). Can't wait to do this one more.

Universal Monsters: Wow! This house was fantastic, I really did not expect to love this house as much as I did. The sets were really great. I think the bell tower might be one of the coolest rooms I have ever seen. The monsters felt much more sinister than I was expecting them too, especially the mummy. This was definitely one of the highlights of my night and the walk out to this one feels much better than it did last year (This could have been ion my head though), but the exit walk is a long one.

Depths of Fear: This house was interesting. I think I had a bad run because non of the scares really hit me (and I get scared really easily). The costumes of the fish things were cool. The sets were nice and I like how they did the facade for this house, and nightingales, where you were kinda "in the house" before you were in the tent, so it definitely felt less like you were walking into a tent. Needs some more runs to get a good feel though.

Nightingales: I liked this house, It felt like the claustrophobic house of the year to me, it had some tight corridors. I'm really iffy about the new look of the nightingales, I think the old ones felt a lot scarier than these. This house wasn't afraid to get gory either. I really did enjoy myself in here. Also the facade, other than what I said about it in the last house description, was really well done.

House of 1000 Corpses: Man they improved the facade of this location a lot! I had pretty high hopes for this house and it kinda delivered for me. I enjoyed the back half of this house MUCH more than the first half. I think with time this house will only grow better and better.

Us: I think they did an awesome job translating the movie into a house. There are some cool effects that I thought really worked. Two involved looking into open doorways. I don't think the scares felt samey. Seeing the facade twice was cool and made sense in the context of the movie, but might seem weird to those who haven't seen the movie. Overall I really enjoyed it and can't wait to see it grow over the course of the event.

Yeti: At this point in the night I thought this house had the most impressive and convincing sets so far. It was a little colder than a normal house and there was snow effects. I was super impressed and immersed in this house. The downside of most of the scares coming from a huge yeti is that it's kind of easy to see where he might be coming from. This was definitely the least scary house of the night for me, but I still really enjoyed it. There is a scene where there is a yeti above you by what seems like quite a bit. I pointed at him to make sure my friend saw him and he pointed back at me. So, props to that yeti.

Killer Klownz: This house was a lot of fun especially if you have recently watched the movie. It wasn't the scariest, but the costumes were really cool and I think people worrying about the size of this venue fitting them in should not worry about that anymore. Especially with one exceptionally large room that had me do a double take. The house felt almost fun and playful at parts and other parts felt dark and creepy. Solid house, I can't wait to go through some more.

Ghostbusters: I LOVE THIS HOUSE. This was my favorite house of the night. Ghostbusters is one of my favorite movies of all time and I think they did an amazing job. I also got some of my biggest scares of the night in this house. I know there might be some opening night hype on my end here, but I think this house is fantastic. There is also another impressively large room in this house.

I didn't really see much of the scarezones at night except Rob Zombie which was so packed full of people I could barely tell what was going on. I'll spend more time in the scarezones as the event goes on.

House Rankings:
1) Ghostbusters
2) Universal Monsters
3) Us
4) Killer Klownz
5) Nightingales
6) Yeti
7) Graveyard Games
8)House of 1000 Corpses
9) Depths of Fear
 
So much fun to read all these reviews and see the lists. It's greet to see how different people favor houses differently, meaning the have a great range that serves all tastes. Wish I could be there but happy to live trough your experiences.
I would love to see a video of the show.
 
We had a blast last night. We were lucky enough to be the very first people in the Ghostbusters house!

The theming in the houses this year is off the charts. Other than their facades, the execution of the 3 houses in the back was a bit of a letdown, but we really enjoyed the rest of the houses.

The only scare zone I liked was the one I had no interest in, And that’s the Rob Zombie zone. It had a really good energy. The Zombieland zone was definitely a disappointment.

We got in 16 house runs, a walk through every scare zone, and some pizza fries and s’mores fries! Both were delicious.

I am very disappointed in the event cup this year. The lid doesn’t screw on, there is no handle, and no straw. Big letdown.

House Rankings:
1. Universal Monsters
2. Killer Klowns
3. Ghostbusters
4. Us
5. Yeti: Terror of the Yukon
6. Stranger Things
7. Graveyard Games
8. Nightingales: Blood Pit
9. House of 1000 Corpses
10. Depths of Fear

Scare Zone Rankings
1. Rob Zombie: Hellbilly Deluxe
2. Anarch-Cade
3. Vanity Ball
4. Vikings Undead
5. Zombieland
 
Quick ranking after doing each house once and each scarezone a few times:

Houses
  1. Graveyard Games
  2. Us
  3. Killer Klowns
  4. Ghostbusters
  5. Stranger Things
  6. Nightingales: Blood Pit
  7. Universal Monsters
  8. Yeti
  9. House of 1000 Corpses
  10. Depths of Fear
I could see most of my list changing throughout the year other than Depths honestly. I really really like 1-7 and wouldn't be surprised to see anything drastically move around by November.

Scarezones
  1. Vanity Ball
  2. Anarch-Cade
  3. Zombieland: Double Tap
  4. Rob Zombie HellBilly Deluxe
  5. Vikings Undead
I'm still not really sure how I feel about the zones this year. I love the hell out of Vanity Ball and Anarch-Cade is gorgeous. Zombieland is cool visually. Other than that, eh. I have no attachment to Rob Zombie whatsoever. The zone is what it is. The actors are at least giving it their best it seems. Vikings has potential for sure, but I think the actors still need to find their stride.
 
Quick list. Need a last run through tonight to cement my list, and I can expound on more.

1. Ghostbusters
2. Graveyard Games
3. Monsters

4. Yeti
5. Klowns
6. Corpses
7. Nightingales
8. Stranger Things
9. Depths
10. Us

Zones
1. Anarch-Cade
2. Zombie
3. Vikings
4. Vanity
5. Zombieland.

Those seem to be the consensus top 3 thus far, not just from you. :)

So far I haven't *disliked* any of the houses, but that could change, I suppose.
 
First time doing horror nights and I’m so glad I managed to do it. Did all houses opening night and most of them multiple times on Sunday of opening weekend. Here’s my review/ranking of each house and scarezone, I’m actually quite surprised at how my list turned out.

Houses:

10. Stranger things - Maybe it was my high expectations for this house that let it down but this is definitely bottom of the list. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a cool house overall but there weren’t many scares and both times I left a little disappointed with a feeling of “is that it?”. Still, sets we’re pretty cool.

9. Depths of Fear - This had all the makings of a great house: enclosed spaces, great creature costumes and cool effects. However, something just didn’t seem quite right. Didn’t get many scares and I think that was down to the clunky creature costumes making it hard for the actors to hide. Also, what did that poor dog do to deserve that? Overall, sets were great and costumes were cool but it gets pushed down the list by its competition.

8. House of 1,000 Corpses - Again, not a bad house by any means but it comes out towards the bottom when put against the other houses. This kind of blurred into one for me.

7. Ghostbusters - I know, slightly controversial but this was just middle of the range for me. The sets were great but this house was missing the scares when I went through, with 2 of the terror dogs being covered with black plastic bags on Sunday night. I hope we just got unlucky both nights as I really want this house to do well.

6. Nightingales - This house was really good both times we went though. They’ve done a great job with the nightingales themselves and it’s really cool to see how they evolved from the bird-like creatures they were in this house. I can’t really think of any particularly bad points here, it’s just a case of some other houses were slightly better.

5. Us - We had a great time both walkthroughs of Us. The facade sets up the house really well and I got some great scares from the tethered. The way they did the fight in the bunny room was also really cool to see and I think they did an amazing job at making the actresses look exactly like Lupita. I think what really helped this house was that I had fairly low expectations and they really were blown away.

4. Graveyard - A solid house with great sets, costumes and scares. The ambiance is something you feel as soon as you step inside and they do a great job of setting this house up with the outside projections and the facade/scene 0. There seemed to be plenty of actors in here too who delivered some really good scares.

3. Klowns - This was just great fun from start to finish. The costumes were great, the actors seemed to enjoy what they were doing and Klownzilla topped it all off nicely. I’m really glad they turned this into a house as it was a great mix of fun and fright.

2. Monsters - What an amazing house this was. Everything from start to finish was fantastic and this house wins the award for best opening in my books, that graveyard was awesome. I was expecting some sort of transition between monsters but they really didn’t need it in the end as they delivered a really well thought out house that effectively toured all of the classics and delivered some really good scares. Bravo.

1. Yeti - Wow. That’s all I need to say. I thought the sets here were without a doubt the best of the night (this house looked beautiful and eerie at the same time) and the costumes really blew me away. I was expecting it to be cold in here but the fans did a great job of creating a sense of the chill without the need for it to be freezing. I loved this house so much that we did it 3 times over 2 nights and it was just as excellent each time, even though I knew what was coming. They really created something great with this one.


Scarezones:

5. Anarchade - This was ok, cool costumes but the others were far better.

4. Rob-Zombie - Not a fan of his but this still had some cool sets and a fun atmosphere.

3. Zombieland - I thought they did a good job here at doing zombies without it being bland. I got a few scares walking through here.

2. Vikings - Costumes looked really cool, though more goblin than viking. Awesome atmosphere in here.

1. Vanity Ball - I was expecting some sort of plastic surgery party but no, this is a BAWL DAHLING. Any fan of drag or ball culture will love this and they did a great job of creating a really fun zone.

Overall, an amazing time. None of the houses or zones were bad by any means. It’s just that some were simply “good” and others were absolutely amazing. Well done all.
 
Saw these on twitter from Anarch-ade... they deserve to be seen.
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The originating tweet:
 
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