Halloween Horror Nights 34 (UOR) - Reviews, Photos, & Videos

[Brian G.]

This thread is for reviews, photos, and videos of HHN 34! Please limit all discussions to media and reviews of the event.

Please include in your review whether your visit was during Premium Scream Night.

Any general discussions should be posted in the News & Info or Tips & Tricks threads. Thanks!

 

[TheCodeMan95]

So now reviews for last night, huh? lol

 

[Rikku]

This year seems like a total banger with a stellar house line up. More detailed review later after this weekend but Premium Scream was wayyyy oversold and lines were way to long, Express on normal nights is better. Hopefully Universal gets the feedback and adjusts cause I would not recommend it for next year. Just a tricky conflict, amazing event but disappointed on the PSN.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

So now reviews for last night, huh? lol

I have an article I’m working on as TP sent someone. They said the rain was a negative and it was “oversold” but no idea what they mean by that as wait times were low.

 

[Grabnar]

Premium scream night was a MESS last night. A pretty nasty storm can be blamed for some of it, but the event was extremely oversold. We waited an average of 30-40 min/house (contrasted with last year’s 10-20), and 10-20 min for food lines. It was still better than a normal night not paying for express, but nowhere near worth what they were charging. Last year’s PSN was amazing, this year was a letdown. It took us until event close to finish all of the houses and shows. It you have one night to do everything and the money to burn a RIP tour is a better use of your money. If you want to go and absorb atmosphere with less crowds in the scare zones, PSN is better.

That said, the rest of the event is feeling very back to form. The SZ’s were all amazing, Cat Lady is truly inspired and a LOT of fun. Masquerade is creepy and detailed and the scareactors are great. I didn’t spend a lot of time in NY due to time constraints so I don’t have a lot to say about that zone. Conservatory is super neat for a photo zone. Chainsaws are back, not a lot to say about that. Club Horror is lame and needs more energy but might be better on a full night.

Houses! Nothing is as bad as Chucky. I think most of the houses are solid this year with Fallout being the only exception. We got a good run, hit every scare, but it does not work and feels very flat. I liked the show and love the property so it’s very disappointing. WWE, Jason, Dolls, and El Artista were my standouts this year. Jason is terrifying and the best use of that space I have seen. Honorable mention to FNAF which is not scary at all but has some incredible animatronics and puppets if they’re working on your run.

Nightmare Fuel is great, maybe the best iteration, this year as a direct sequel to last year’s story, and the lagoon show is fantastic and worth a watch if you have time.

My overall house ranking based on one night and one run each house at “Premium” Scream Night:
WWE, Jason, El Artista, Dolls, Terrifier, Hatchet and Chains, Galkn, FNAF, Grave, Fallout.

Sorry Brian for the double post

I have an article I’m working on as TP sent someone. They said the rain was a negative and it was “oversold” but no idea what they mean by that as wait times were low.

There were too many people to pulse properly so almost every house ended up as a conga line again in house so you essentially waited 2x as long as last year to have the same house experience as a normal night. Shout out to WWE and Galkn ops for pulsing properly.

All of the food had long lines and a lot ran out by 12-1a as well. I’ll add to my previous post that most of the food this year is notably worse than last year. The twisted tater chips were actually bad, would recommend skipping.

The Dead Coconut having AP night on the PSN day was also kind of a slap in the face, not sure why they lined those up.

 

[EAS]

Premium scream night was a MESS last night. A pretty nasty storm can be blamed for some of it, but the event was extremely oversold. We waited an average of 30-40 min/house (contrasted with last year’s 10-20), and 10-20 min for food lines. It was still better than a normal night not paying for express, but nowhere near worth what they were charging. Last year’s PSN was amazing, this year was a letdown. It took us until event close to finish all of the houses and shows. It you have one night to do everything and the money to burn a RIP tour is a better use of your money. If you want to go and absorb atmosphere with less crowds in the scare zones, PSN is better.

That said, the rest of the event is feeling very back to form. The SZ’s were all amazing, Cat Lady is truly inspired and a LOT of fun. Masquerade is creepy and detailed and the scareactors are great. I didn’t spend a lot of time in NY due to time constraints so I don’t have a lot to say about that zone. Conservatory is super neat for a photo zone. Chainsaws are back, not a lot to say about that. Club Horror is lame and needs more energy but might be better on a full night.

Houses! Nothing is as bad as Chucky. I think most of the houses are solid this year with Fallout being the only exception. We got a good run, hit every scare, but it does not work and feels very flat. I liked the show and love the property so it’s very disappointing. WWE, Jason, Dolls, and El Artista were my standouts this year. Jason is terrifying and the best use of that space I have seen. Honorable mention to FNAF which is not scary at all but has some incredible animatronics and puppets if they’re working on your run.

Nightmare Fuel is great, maybe the best iteration, this year as a direct sequel to last year’s story, and the lagoon show is fantastic and worth a watch if you have time.

My overall house ranking based on one night and one run each house at “Premium” Scream Night:
WWE, Jason, El Artista, Dolls, Terrifier, Hatchet and Chains, Galkn, FNAF, Grave, Fallout.

Sorry Brian for the double post

There were too many people to pulse properly so almost every house ended up as a conga line again in house so you essentially waited 2x as long as last year to have the same house experience as a normal night. Shout out to WWE and Galkn ops for pulsing properly.

All of the food had long lines and a lot ran out by 12-1a as well. I’ll add to my previous post that most of the food this year is notably worse than last year. The twisted tater chips were actually bad, would recommend skipping.

The Dead Coconut having AP night on the PSN day was also kind of a slap in the face, not sure why they lined those up.

I had a good time at PSN but I agree it was much worse than last year for many reasons.

One issue I'd flag, in addition to those you've noted, is that I thought the "semi-pulsing" was not great. Almost always, as someone who went by myself, they'd just let me in with another group, so I very often was third or fourth in line and missed most scares. In addition, the spacing was often such that the actor would have mostly disappeared by the time I got there, and wouldn't reappear until the next semi-pulsed group. At least for the regular conga line, you see it all, even if you don't get targeted every time. They for sure need to work on that for next year!

 

[Rikku]

I had a good time at PSN but I agree it was much worse than last year for many reasons.

One issue I'd flag, in addition to those you've noted, is that I thought the "semi-pulsing" was not great. Almost always, as someone who went by myself, they'd just let me in with another group, so I very often was third or fourth in line and missed most scares. In addition, the spacing was often such that the actor would have mostly disappeared by the time I got there, and wouldn't reappear until the next semi-pulsed group. At least for the regular conga line, you see it all, even if you don't get targeted every time. They for sure need to work on that for next year!

Agree I thought the pulsing was a complete mess and waste of time. All the lines would have benefited if they just skipped it altogether as once inside groups would always catch up and render the pulsing outside useless.