I've been going to Hollywood's event every single year since 2009, but this was - at last - my first year seeing Orlando's event after several false starts over the years, including one time when I was actually in Orlando in 2017, ready to go to HHN, and the people I was with on the trip backed out, as well as a planned trip for 2020 that got entirely derailed by the arrival of COVID. So to say I was excited to finally see it would be an understatement.
Arrived in Orlando last Wednesday (the 7th) around 2pm, got to our hotel (Cabana Bay), went to CityWalk and ate (Toothsome!), and then the plan was to just go into the event for a little bit to do a few things, come back and crash at the hotel because we were tired, and then just go hard on Thursday, as we had the Rush of Fear pass to alleviate any stress of not getting everything done in a single night.
Walking in on Wednesday, I was immediately taken back to what Hollywood used to feel like -- fog everywhere, scareactors around every corner, the whole park feeling like it was under the spell. I loved it. We first went to Diagon Alley to ride Escape from Gringotts since it was their first time going to the parks, period, then hit up Bugs as our first maze, which had said a 30-minute wait but ended up being closer to an hour. The maze was an absolute blast, but the wait had me worried; if it was like that on a Wednesday, I was dreading what it'd be like Friday or Saturday. But we got out of that, thrilled with it, and trucked over to Universal Monsters, which was awesome (and also a pretty lengthy wait despite claiming to be 20 minutes) and reenergized us to stay a bit longer, which we did by checking out Spirits of the Coven (20 minutes posted, 10 minutes actual wait) and riding Rip Ride before calling it.
Thursday was spent at IoA during the day, then that crazy monsoon hit while we were getting seated at Cowfish at CityWalk. Waited for it to die down a bit, and then got into the park right before 5 to do Scream Early, which we used to get in line for Halloween (about a 40 minute wait). Then blew through Dead Man's Pier and Fiesta straight after, then Blumhouse, then Bugs (again), then Descendants of Destruction and Men in Black (when the drizzle picked up a bit again and we just needed a break from being wet for hours) followed by a 45-ish minute wait for The Weeknd. Wrapped up the night with Gringotts, Rip Ride, and walking straight into Hellblock Horror despite a posted 15-minute wait time.
Friday we caught up on a few rides we got rained out of, like Velocicoaster, and then went back to the hotel for a bit... and then saw Revenge of the Mummy was open at last and booked it right back and got into it for a 45-minute wait, but god damn was I happy to experience it again after a few years and they LOVED it, agreeing it blows our Hollywood version out of the water. Did a few rerides of things and did Fiesta, Coven, and Monsters again, tried a specialty drink, and unwound.
Saturday and Sunday were more lowkey - went to the event again for a few hours both nights, but weren't too stressed; just did rerides and revisits of things if the wait times were low enough.
Overall, we did every single maze twice except for Halloween and Descendants. I love Halloween as an IP, and the maze was nice, but I wasn't wowed, and while Descendants had some great set design (I particularly loved the subway part) none of us really cared about doing it again. For me, personally, my favorite mazes were Universal Monsters and Dead Man's Pier. On a "scare" level, the first was far more effective, but what I truly appreciated about both was the set design, especially with the latter, which was just... gorgeous. I can't begin to describe how much I loved being able to see the lighthouse from different parts of the maze, or how you walk out to see the ship with the violinist only to feel the wind and the rain on your face. Just sublime in every single way, from the tiniest details in the set to the ambient music and beyond.
Bugs was just goofy, cheesy fun. Blumhouse nailed the Black Phone section, while the Freaky section felt lacking (which sucks, because I really dig the movie) but not to a degree where I hated going through it. Spirits nailed the set design, but it felt oddly low energy, and both times going through it there were long stretches in the final third without a single actor in sight. Fiesta was super fun, too, with more amazing set design, but again was a victim of low energy for whatever reason, particularly my second night through it. Hellblock was whatever, but both times we did it were walk-ons, so I can't complain too much, whereas I'd definitely have a lower opinion had I waited a substantial amount of time for it. And, lastly, The Weeknd's maze truly surprised me; I had zero expectations for it, and I'm not really a fan of his music, but the maze was just such a blast and a big ball of energy that I'm actually bummed we didn't get to do it a third time (though, at least, I'm curious what Hollywood's version will have to offer when I go this weekend now that I'm back home).
If I have any real complaints about the event, it's simply guest-related (and one employee-related thing). We were wearing masks the entire time, and we'd already prepared ourselves that, because we're in Florida, we'd probably be some of the very few to do so. We weren't really wrong, and that's fine. That said, the amount of people that went out of their way to make comments to us was just... shocking. Some guy straight up called me a "mask-wearing freak" to my face. An older couple harassed us in line for Fiesta our second night about it, telling us to take them off. In the locker room for Revenge of the Mummy, a woman made a snide, unprovoked "Why are you guys wearing masks? You look stupid" comment to us. A group of people thought it was funny to keep getting close to us in a line and fake coughing over and over (and laughing about it). And on and on... And at one point, shockingly, an older employee at one of the drink stands saw I was from California on my ID (I was getting a drink) and started in about politics, including a suggestion that I vote for DeSantis if he runs for president, all while I just kept my mouth shut waiting for him to just get me my drink and ultimately walking away from the one-sided conversation. All of it was off-putting and, in a way, demoralizing, just because we wanted to enjoy the event in peace and yet people had to be so triggered by a piece of cloth rather than mind their business. I obviously don't hold it against Universal (how is it their fault for guests running their mouths?) but it did put a little asterisk next to my/our enthusiasm for the event overall, if that makes sense.
Despite all that, I'm glad I went, and I thought Orlando handled the standby/Express flow a million times better than Hollywood's, which was just beyond frustrating last year... and from what I've heard is even worse this year. Other than the Bugs wait hitting a standstill that first night, lines kept moving across all five nights, and I don't think we had a single wait for any maze on any night after that that even breached 45 minutes, which is just wild to me when I'm so used to Hollywood grinding standby lines to a halt for longer than that to make way for Express people over and over again.
But anyway, I hope all of you who've gone had as much fun with the event as I did, even if my excitement is coming from the fact it was my first time, and for anyone who hasn't gone yet, but will soon, I hope that you, too, have a huge blast when you go!