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Universal Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) - 2012


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I loved how Robb took a picture with the Saw Twins people lol.....We all know them really well there at Universal haha...I just talked to them on Wednesday while I was working at the Jurassic Park store haha

They were actually really fun and enthusiastic! Kudos to them!

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Gotta say, despite my bad experience last time, I had a great night yesterday! With less crowds I was able to hit 9 mazes in 1.5 hours using my front of the line pass only once for The Thing (which was still only about 20 minutes). The removal of the sheet maze on TT was a good choice and the scareactors seemed to be much more into it than last time, interacting with the guests and having a good time (except for the one Scream actor which I saw texting on the job, but whatever). The lines picked up again later in the night, but since I had already been in all the mazes I was just able to relax and hang out with some friends that didn't have FOTL passes. All in all, the event was good enough to make up for last time! The Thing and Alice cooper were astounding visually. Big props to John and his team. Also big thanks to Robb for offering the event! Well worth the extra money.

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Hey Robb, I had a fantastic time last night...really enjoyed the THING maze - the new movie looks great and it was cool to see a preview on the tram!!! I had a kid behind me ask "who's Alice Cooper?" so I felt really old. The front of the line passes were a must - felt so VIP walking right by the people waiting 65 minutes. The Mummy was "brighter" than usual, I could see the layout of the track and the other cars, the Simpson's was great - every time I ride I notice something new, I loved the fire by the chainsaw clowns...all in all, great evening, thanks!

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I went on opening night, but I haven't had time for a review until now. First off, I'd like to say that Halloween Horror Nights was amazing this year. I also went last year but I was severely disappointed over last year's event. This year I noticed many changes in the scare tactics and the designs evolved as well. I'll start with maze reviews. I'm rating them in order of preferance.

P.S I don't get scared in the houses so scare factor is just based on the reactions I saw from people around me.

Warning: This may contain spoilers. If you do not wish to be spoiled, do not read.

 

Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare.

To sum this maze up with one word would be a challenge. I was a bit skeptical about this maze even though I am a huge fan of Alice's works, owning all of his albums, but I was still a bit iffy on the concept. But, from the moment I saw the facade I was sold. The amazing lighting work there just took my breath away as well as all the props around the facade, it was immersive from the start. Then as I got into the maze I realized just what an amazing journey I was about to be taken through. The highlights of this maze for me where the Executioner's room as well as the Asylum, Black Widow and School's Out. The whole maze was incredibly detailed and immersive.

Atmosfear: 10 Set Design: 10 Immersion: 10 Scare Factor: 10

 

La Llorona

Going into the event, and even waiting in line for this maze I was worried that this would be a horrible maze. Considering La Llorona's scare zone and Terror Tram section last year were completely and utterly horrendous. But from the moment I saw the facade with the fog and lighting it had my expectations were raised a bit. We first entered a church which was one of the if not most beautiful room in any maze I have ever seen. From there we went into the blacklight statue hallway which just felt larger than life and incredibly immersive. The garden/cemetery area came next. This had a subtly creepy vibe in this room. The next big highlight was the river room, which was incredible. Including a misdirection gag which caught the people behind us by surprise. The next big highlight was the end. Which featured the reused Freddy head, but it made it feel totally different. I hope this and Alice Cooper show John Murdy and his team that original concepts work well at Horror Nights and even better than the movies in my opinion.

Atmosfear: 10 Set Design: 10 Immersion: 10 Scare Factor: 10

 

House of 1000 Corpses 3D

Not much to say if you went through it last year. It still kicks about the same amount of a** as last year.

Atmosfear: 9 Set Design: 8 Immersion: 10 Scare Factor: 8

 

The Thing: Assimilation

This maze was a bit of a confusing one. On one hand the mazes sets were phenomenal, but the scare factor wasn't consistent through the entire maze. I left the maze happy with what I saw, but I do wish there was more scares. But the set design and creature design were absolutely incredible and made up for the scare factor inconsistentcy.

Atmosfear: 9 Set Design: 10 Immersion: 9 Scare Factor: 7

 

Eli Roth's Hostel: Hunting Season

Hostel was a great maze. I loved the fact that the actors had a bit more freedom and were allowed to roam instead of being stuck behind a door all night, which I saw in other houses as well. The maze had a familiar feel to it though. It felt similar to Saw in some parts, but overall it was so different that you wouldn't even notice a lot of similarities. The set design here was a little bit low down because there weren't very many detailed rooms.

Atmosfear: 9 Set Design: 7 Immersion: 8 Scare Factor: 8

 

Terror Tram: Scre4m For Your Life

I thought this year's Terror Tram was great. The only thing I was the tiniest bit disappointed with was the setup/video. I still think Saw's video worked the best, but for what it's for, the setup works perfectly. The sheet maze worked well with the theme of Scre4m and even worked better than the Psycho House Sheet Maze. War of the Worlds was darker this year which allowed for more hidden scares, but the hill/woods which used to be the highlight of the Terror Tram is sadly now long, boring and uneventful.

Atmosfear: 9 Set Design: 6 Immersion: 6 Scare Factor: 7

 

Wolfman: Curse of Talbot Hall

Finally a maze that works with the House of Horrors. This year they actually changed a lot of the permanent attraction for the event. They even made the spinning tunnel about the Wolfman. This has been the best House of Horrors overlay yet. I was just surprised by how much they added/switched out for this maze. The only "awkward" rooms were the Mummy, Chucky and Frankenstein the rest pretty much fit well.

Atmosfear: 8 Set Design: 7 Immersion: 6 Scare Factor: 9

 

Well I hope you enjoyed this review. I have a few thoughts as well. I think that USH should continue doing unique and original concept mazes because my two favorite mazes of the night and the only ones with all 10's were both Original mazes. I count Alice Cooper as original since there is no real scenes they are just pulling out. Another thing great about this year was the lighting and scare tactics and even room designs. I think the lighting this year was amazing and a bit trippy at some times. The scare tactics this year more seemed focused on the scare than a scene except for the Thing. I also liked the fact that the Scareactors wandered a bit more and not all the scares were scen specific scares. The room designs were interesting because you actually got to explore the room instead of quickly pass by it. In the end, I think this year's Horror Nights would deserve a perfect 10/10 and I hope they continue doing all new mazes every year and exploring some original concepts as well.

Thanks for reading.

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Between the 2 Universal parks in the USA, does Hollywood have the better Bill & Ted show than Orlando or does Rob just love Bill and Ted show? Also why can you get photos of Bill & Ted at Hollywood and not Orlando, or did Rob cheat the system?

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^ I'm insulted you would even ask that. Seriously, do you honestly think I'd be taking and posting photos if they weren't allowed? Hollywood allows photos, Orlando does not. And yes, the show is awesome....in both Hollywood and Orlando.

 

--Robb "Think before you post next time. And my name is spelled Robb." Alvey

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^^^^ Great review! I keep planning on writing one, but I am VERY thorough and detailed, and I would make it pages long. On a different site I posted a Haunt review and it was something like 4 pages on word... and I had like a sentence for each maze, while all my hhn reviews would be a paragraph minimum... cause I just right like that. Our views were/are pretty much the same, though!

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I unfortunetly didn't work yesterday so I didn't see you guys . But once again, today, Saturday was a lot less packed. So if you're planning on coming, shoot for Saturday! By 1:30, everything was walk on.

 

And as someone stated above, I've also noticed quite a lot of annoying little kids this year.

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^^^^ Great review! I keep planning on writing one, but I am VERY thorough and detailed, and I would make it pages long. On a different site I posted a Haunt review and it was something like 4 pages on word... and I had like a sentence for each maze, while all my hhn reviews would be a paragraph minimum... cause I just right like that. Our views were/are pretty much the same, though!

Thanks. I probably would have written a really long review as well but I tried to keep it short. I hope to see you write a review soon, as I always like to hear the opinions of others and compare them to mine.

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Be warned! According to the folks at guest relations the tour of the Phantom of the Opera stage is not being included this year on the VIP/RIP tour. Such a shame as it was one my main points of interest in doing the RIP tour this year. Has anyone done this in the last couple of weekends -- can you confirm this is true and let us know what this year's RIP tour consists of, apart from the Vampire Blood Lounge and the front of the line stuff? Thanks!

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The whole family had a great time at HHN. Thanks to TPR for setting up the event and especially for making FOL passes part of the deal. They were the bomb! Having John Murdy show up after dinner was really cool too. I hope he can get his wish to add the Excorcist movie property to future HHN events someday.

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Be warned! According to the folks at guest relations the tour of the Phantom of the Opera stage is not being included this year on the VIP/RIP tour. Such a shame as it was one my main points of interest in doing the RIP tour this year. Has anyone done this in the last couple of weekends -- can you confirm this is true and let us know what this year's RIP tour consists of, apart from the Vampire Blood Lounge and the front of the line stuff? Thanks!

 

I met some guests who had RIP passes and they said they went into the Opera House, though they may have been mistaken.

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Be warned! According to the folks at guest relations the tour of the Phantom of the Opera stage is not being included this year on the VIP/RIP tour. Such a shame as it was one my main points of interest in doing the RIP tour this year. Has anyone done this in the last couple of weekends -- can you confirm this is true and let us know what this year's RIP tour consists of, apart from the Vampire Blood Lounge and the front of the line stuff? Thanks!

 

The tour is subject to change on a nightly based on the needs of any productions shooting on the lot. It can be included one night and gone the next for the entire duration of the event if a production rents that stage out.

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^ It probably won't be to bad, I know this Sunday is one of the nights Universal gives the biggest discounts for AP holders and such. Which usually means they're not expecting huge crowds either but you never know.

Thanks, it is true that crowds for theme parks are never predictable. Opening night was packed but the night after I heard was a little bit more quiet. This year crowds seem to be lighter because of the limit of FFP though.

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^That's great news. More regular ticket sales=more money for the park AND a better experience for those people paying full price, since the park isn't as full of passholders.

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Ya it seems like like the wait times for mazes peak at about 75 mins... which is still pretty long but that's a huge improvement over the 135 min waits they had a year or two ago.

Yeah, and the lines seem to move faster since the Front of the Line pass only gets to go in once, because there is no backup of FOL that they have to send in in front of the regular stand-by line.

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