Comments on: Halloween Horror Nights 19 scare-by-scare review and video

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 17:50:58 +0000

For all of you complaining about the lines and waits of the houses, don’t buy tickets on Saturday. I just went this Friday and i got there at 6:30 and got through EVERY house by 9:30 WITHOUT express passes or the RIP tour. Use common sense here people. Halloween Horror Nights is AMAZING every year wether some houses top others or not.

By: Garrett

Garrett — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:48:11 +0000

I have just started going to Halloween events and Howl-o-Scream 2008 was my first. Personally, I loved it. Then, I went to Halloween Horror Nights 19 on October 10 and it was even better than Howl-o-Scream. But, I do think that universal should help manage crowds. When I went, the park had opened 5 minutes before I got there and when I got there, I went through the gate and turned right into lights, camera, hacktion. Silver screams was my first house and the wolfman was my last. I went on a Saturday and did All 8 houses from 6:30 to 12:00 and still had 2 hours. I also recommend getting an express pass which I didn’t because I waited 90 minutes for Frankenstein and by the time I left, it was a 120 minute wait. I also can’t wait until HHN 20!

By: Spook

Spook — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:36:04 +0000

Ahhh I love to read the fan boys who go over and over and the casual guest who goes on one of HHN so called Non peak nights. I have done HHN for 13 years and HOS for 8 and sadly HHN is getting out of control. Yes you can buy a express pass (40-75 dollars) and a ticket (30-70 dollars) so lets figure some math. you go on a Non peak Sunday and get a 30 dollar Fla Resident ticket and a 50 dollar express pass. Wow 80 dollars to do 8/ 5 minute houses. and 2 shows and not get to ride there new state of the art roller coaster what a deal.

Or you have heard all the excitement about HHN and you decide to go and you see hey Thursdays are non peak, well sadly for you you go on Hell Nights (3 and 4th Thursday of the event) and you have paid 30-70 dollars(if your a fla resident or just coming to go to the event and bought a ticket at regular price) and you get to see 2 maybe 3 houses.

Would you really want to come back after that? I go to the event early normally the first Thursday when there crowds aren’t that bad and see everything and then don’t come back till next year.

HHN should be honest with guest and tell them Sundays and some Thursdays are very busy. Then they need to addressee the Frequent fear pass issue and change how they do it with 3 day, 5 day and all event FFp passes at different price levels to help with some of the insane crowd levels.

HHN builds great houses but they push people through so they can’t enjoy the experiance, unlike the park to the south in Tampa.

I feel for the people who go who are casual guest they get screwed over and it is sad for what Universal is charging them. If you want to see a great House come up to Atlanta and visit Netherworld and see what Universal should be doing with all the money they spend on Houses.

No Haunt event is worth 70-200 per person IMO with express or RIP tours. Universal used to sell out events now they just pile more people in and keep the money flowing. I know it will never be the event it was when i first started but it would be nice if they were a little more honest about non-peak nights.

By: nich

nich — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:12:39 +0000

Its all about timing in the houses.

By: GP

GP — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:55:48 +0000

My girlfriend and I went to Howl-O-Scream in Busch Gardens Tampa last year, both our first. We decided to compare HHN and went on Fri Oct 23 this year.
Things started well with Wolfman. The scenery was almost movie-set quality as opposed to the plywood maze that most are. Not the scariest, but tops for atmosphere. We waited 45 minutes for that one, at around 7:30 when we first arrived.
We skipped Frankenstein because the wait was almost an hour and decided to go deeper into the park to see if there were shorter lines.
We waited for an hour for Dracula. Middle of the pack. Scary make-up would have been better than the rubber masks that many actors were wearing. Too cookie-cutter and not-too-scary.
At this point we figured we’d quickly run out of time so opted to buy two Express passes. At $75 each, the cost was greater than our entry tickets!
I can’t even start to explain how lame Leave It to Cleaver was. Actors with paper-mache heads standing (not even jumping out) through the maze, cartoonishly wielding kitchen utensils. Eek. The horror.
I was insulted by Saw. An avid fan of the movies and seen every one, and it being one of the signature houses, it was an extreme disappointment. I’m glad I had Express passes and didn’t have to wait 90 minutes for this bore-fest. I don’t know if all the actors were on a simultaneous break, but there were VERY few scares in this one.
We cut back to Frankenstein and had a screaming good time. This was BY FAR our favorite.
Headed across the park, Chucky was as cartoony-lame and scareless as Cleaver, and the Spawning was as bad as everyone says it is. Silver Screams had potential and exiters seemed to love it. I guess we must have missed the point. I’d put it at the top of the bottom of the pack.
The street scenes were better than what I remember of Tampa’s. But I preferred Tampa’s houses. It may have been because it was our first time. We’ll have to see it next year to be sure. But the crowds are more manageable in Tampa and we easily saw everything plus a few rides thrown in. The REQUIREMENT to buy Express passes (unless you go very early in the season, or on weeknights) for HHN makes it a gyp IMO.
So in order of preference:
1. Frankenstein
2. Wolfman
3. Dracula
4. Silver Scream
5. Saw
6. Leave it to Cleaver
7. Spawning
8. Chuckie

By: Jedi

Jedi — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:18:43 +0000

Wow, I don’t get it. I went Saturday the 24 and got on 4 houses and hit all the scare zones. Loved Frankenstein and Dracula, especially Dracula. Actually made me jump once or twice. When we first got there at 6:30 the lines were only 30 minutes or so, but by the end Dracula was 75. But hitting half the houses was great!

By: Ricky

Ricky — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:26:18 +0000

I’ve certainly seen my share of horror films. It just happens that I haven’t seen this particular series. The Saw series has somehow escaped me over the years though. It’s been on my need-to-watch list ever since the first one was released years ago.

While I have been slacking on my recent horror movie watching, I have seen most of the classics and enjoy them thoroughly. However, I imagine that many guests visiting Halloween Horror Nights have never sat down to watch the original Psycho or The Exorcist.

Despite the fact that I haven’t seen many of the films represented in this year’s event, I still rated the Silver Screams and Saw houses high on my list. That shows that it’s not necessary to see the films to still enjoy the event. You might get more out of it if you are, but the event is still enjoyable regardless.

I wouldn’t list “horror movie fan” as a requirement for visiting Halloween Horror Nights. It’s more of a bonus. You might look at the event as an opportunity to walk through some of your favorite horror films but I look at it as a chance to be immersed in a highly-detailed environment created to entertain, scare, and represent what Halloween is all about.

By: deniro

deniro — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:10:57 +0000

The most disappointing thing about this review is that the reviewer doesn’t seem to actually watch horror films. The Saw films…..The Strangers……My Bloody Valentine…….none of them??

By: Ricky

Ricky — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 06:14:46 +0000

That’s two negative reports from Halloween Horror Nights on a Saturday. In future reviews/posts about HHN, I’ll be sure to recommend that people avoid going to the event on Saturday nights if at all possible. It definitely seems like it’s the busiest. I can only imagine how bad it will be next Saturday on Halloween night!

By: Jeff Bower

Jeff Bower — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:30:10 +0000

I was extremely disappointed with HHN 2009. We went tonight and every haunted house was 90 to 100 minute waits. Then the quality of the houses were sub-standard. After all, this is Universal Studios, they make the movies! This should have been much better. We were there from 6:30 to 12:00 midnight and were only able to see two houses. The place was over crowded. They sold too many tickets. Even the scare zones were so crowded, the actors had trouble scaring people. I would not recommend anyone going for the cost.

By: Mykul 8ch

Mykul 8ch — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:43:27 +0000

Edit #2. I apologize. Forgot to mention Wolfman which I enjoyed as well. Not in the top 3, but a nice visual. I knew I was forgetting one. Sorry once again, for the multiple posts.

By: Mykul 8ch

Mykul 8ch — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:41:55 +0000

Edit – Enjoyed 6/8 houses. And dunno why the paragraphs came out looking like crap. They didn’t when I initially type my review.

By: Mykul 8ch

Mykul 8ch — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:39:38 +0000

I went to HHN the first Thursday it was open and was able to see all 8 houses, the Bill & Ted show and rode the Mummy.
All of this without a fast pass or any special ticket. This past Thursday I went again and it was packed! 1.5-2 hour wait times
for the houses, a little less for the rides. I enjoyed 5/8 houses. The Spawning (boring) and Leave It To Cleaver (horrible)
were the only two I didn’t care for. I actually thought Dracula was the best house, followed by Frankenstein, Saw and then
probably Silver Screams. Chucky was cool visually with the nice effects when you first enter, but not scary to say the least.
Overall I enjoyed a majority of the houses. Bill & Ted was fun as always, but the Rocky Horror Show was absolutely
horrible and a waste of time. Perfectly placed however since it’s next to the aptly horrible Leave It To Cleaver house.
The Mummy breaking down the second night I went (while on it) and the idiotic drunks were the only real negatives in my opinion.

By: Kelsi

Kelsi — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:02:50 +0000

I’ve been following many of your videos on Youtube and just happened upon this review from your Channel. I think that your review, in contrary to “seriously?!!?!” on Oct. 14, was extremely neutral in its opinion. Instead of saying that some houses were “crap” or “just plain bad,” you gave the goods and bads of each house. I think that the way that you balanced each of your statements out was a very fair way to state your opinion on a review site. It is afterall, your personal review.

As for the houses, I cannot agree nor disagree, for I will never attend this event. Not only is it far too pricey for me, but I am a coward and a wimp and would die of fright for just stepping within the vicinity of this place. But your review gave me enough information to be interested, and perhaps even spiked my curiousity, leaving me to want to see what’s behind the creepy door to the theater for myself.

By: tito

tito — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:02:54 +0000

Ive been twice already and in my personal opinion Frankenstein and Dracula were the best, probably because i gave the group ahead of me some distance so that i wouldn’t see where the actors were hiding. In some of the other houses the house attendants gave me more of a scare than the actors. I find that HHN is funnier than it is scary. Just watching drunks wander aimlessly and the groups of girl and the “tough guys” scream and run like little girls made it fun.

By: Ricky

Ricky — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:26:56 +0000

It just proves that different things scare different people. While I found Chucky to be comical and not scary at all, I’m sure there are people who are deathly afraid of dolls and would be scared out of their wits while walking through that house. Likewise, The Spawning did nothing to scare me but seemed to work for you.

It’s all about picking which house(s) appeal to you and then enjoying them. Not everyone has to like everything but there’s definitely something for anyone!

By: Sara

Sara — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:17:58 +0000

I loved HHN. This was my first year going and I was very impressed. Personally I thought Silver Screams was the worst, more of a walk down memory lane than something scary. I expected Spawning to suck. The first green man that jumped out made me laugh, but in then there was a bunch of spooky hanging moss crap that made it so that even Elmo would scare you if he popped out.
Wolfman was my personal favorite. It wasn’t the most frightening but I felt it was almost cinematically appealing. The night I went there were no flaws. I left the maze feeling a bit turned on by the snarling guys to be honest. It was hot.
The lines aren’t bad, considering you don’t go on Saturday. I’d recommend it for anyone who isn’t a total wimp or a whiney douche bag. Oh, and this is a fairly accurate review. I just thought I might add my own opinions

By: Ricky

Ricky — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:14:29 +0000

Jaden – I’m sorry to hear you had such a bad night at Halloween Horror Nights. But you’re right in that it’s impossible to see all of the houses and shows in one night unless you purchase either the Express passes or an RIP Tour. We can’t recommend these enough. While the Express passes can double (or triple on some nights) the cost of attending the event, you get 10 times more fun out of it.

Unfortunately, the night you went was an incredibly crowded night for theme parks in general and the Express passes may not have even helped much. The Express passes actually sold out that night according to the Horror Nights web site, which is likely why you saw such long lines. Epcot was packed that day as well. Perhaps it was the sudden colder weather that made everyone decide to hit the parks.

While it’s not possible for everyone, we also recommend visiting Halloween Horror Nights on weeknights when it’s not as crowded.

By: Jaden

Jaden — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:31:58 +0000

On a positive note, out of the two haunted houses I went to which were Wolfman and Dracula. Dracual was pretty good!

By: Jaden

Jaden — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:17:38 +0000

I went to Halloween Horror Nights last night 10/17/09 and it was a waste of money! Despite the fact it was freezing cold (which I know its not HHN’s fault) but the lines were ridiculously long. I kind of expected realistically that there would be longer waits since we went on a saturday night that is why we got there when the event open at 630pm. However, when we walked it the lines were just as long as if you came later so it wouldnt have matter if we got there as it opened. The wait times were almost 2hrs long and on top of that they didnt even have all the rides were open. When we did finally get to a ride that was open the Mummy, we waited for almost an hour just to learn that the ride all of a sudden started to have “technical difficulties” and the ride shut down. It was over crowed and over priced. Some people say you should have brought the express pass but that was more than the event tickets and from the looks of it the express pass lines were just as long as the regular lines. We got there early only to leave early. I told myself Never Again and that I should have known better because when we went 2 years ago I had the exact same experience but I figured thats because we got there after 10pm so I thought if we got there when it opened we would really be able to enjoy everything. WRONG! And to be honest no one would have been able to go to all the haunted houses with wait lines as long as they were. Do the math the event hours were 630pm to 2am after doing 2 haunted houses and waited in the line for an hour for the Mummy (which we never got on) by that time it was 1130. There was no was we were able to see the other 7 haunted houses by 2am and attend shows. Like i said I am soo dissappointed!

I feel if HHN had all there rides open along with their haunted house the lines wouldnt be as long because the crowd could have a choice to go to rides and/or haunted houses and it would balance the wait times. In addition, I feel that there should be a cap on events like that I know Universal wants to make all the money they can get but damn have some consideration at least.

I will just stick to going to HoloScream in Tampa. It isnt as expensive. The wait times arent as long and all their rides are open.

Halloween Horror Nights is a watse!

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:37:48 +0000

Overpriced, ridiculous crowds, and overrated attractions. Bottled water $2.75, $14 to park, high admission prices, same stale approach in every house..only the setting is different. Typical Florida theme park shinola designed for tourists and teens. Top that off with the sale of alcohol contributing to fights and ugliness and you’ve got the perfect night out. Stay home and rent a horror movie or make your own haunted house. The peace of mind will be worth it.

By: Ricky

Ricky — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:26:25 +0000

Just because I wasn’t fond of the Chucky house doesn’t mean I’m ignorant. We’ve heard from a lot of people who thoroughly enjoyed that house and that’s fantastic to hear. I visited all of the Horror Nights houses on opening night and then again one week later and both times I was not thrilled by that particular house.

I still feel that Frankenstein and Silver Screams were easily the best of this year’s bunch, combining fun startle-scares with plenty of incredible detail and countless entertaining visuals. The Chucky house, on the other hand, was the same thing throughout… a bunch of short people dressed up like Chucky popping out around every corner. If you’re a huge fan of Chucky or afraid of dolls, then you’ll love the house. I personally did not.

But there was still more than enough high-quality Halloween excitement throughout the evening’s event. I did finally get to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show Tribute and loved it. I thought the cast was great and it really paid tribute to a classic film. But try to tell that to the 30-40 people that walked out during the show, presumably because they hated it.

So just like I wouldn’t try to convince those people that the Rocky Horror show is great, I can’t be convinced to have a different opinion about the Chucky house. It is, after all, my opinion and I’m sticking to it.

By: Tay Ferd

Tay Ferd — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:19:57 +0000

I just got back from Halloween Horror Nights and it was incredible. The ignorance of the this review’ Author really will throw off any one reading this. Chucky was the best in my opinion and i waited 75 minuted for it. If it took that long and i can say it was worth it, then it definitely was worth your time, money, and night.

By: Ricky

Ricky — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:31:51 +0000

Two anonymous negative comments on my review in a row. Interesting.

I’ll simply reply by saying these were my opinions of the houses. If yours differ than mine, then please feel free to add your own review in another comment here.

For me, the Chucky house was weak regardless of whether I like Chucky or not. Nightshade Toys at Howl-O-Scream was a much better “posessed toy factory” house. If Chucky had been present inside that house, I would have enjoyed it more than the actual Chucky house at Horror Nights.

I thoroughly enjoy Halloween Horror Nights every year. As you can see, I gave high marks to half of the houses. Only two disappointed me and those were Chucky and The Spawning. The rest were good to great.

By: seriously?!?!

seriously?!?! — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:18:28 +0000

Biased much. You went into some houses already not liking the theme, ie Chucky, and didnt like the house then. Maybe you should let someone else do reviews of this nature, because this review is anything but professional. Did you go through the event looking to be entertained because it sounds like you only wanted to critique everything instead of enjoying it. From the entertainer’s view, if you dont look like you want to be scared, they wont scare you. you even said, the people around you were screaming, but you weren’t. in the future, please let others do a review instead of this horrible one sided attempt at sounding professional.

By: That guy

That guy — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:08:49 +0000

yeah……i think your review is terrible, should probably find someone else to do it. seems like you half tried on the review and just walked through this event not paying attention. Grats on your job.

By: Notscared

Notscared — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:36:38 +0000

We attended this event and found nothing to be scary or even memorable. Just Drunks Floridians and long Lines for a Pathetic attempt at a haunted house! we visited orland just for this event and it was a waste. I would Rather Pay 20 bucks to eneter one good hose that can scare me than 70 for this event any day!

By: alex

alex — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:45:43 +0000

great job and you should do a spoiler site

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:58:29 +0000

Awesome review. Thank you for doing this again. I used your review last year to build my experience, and it was great. Your review was spot on, and I expect that to be the case when my wife and I attend again this year, so thank you in advance for that. please keep doing these each year, and if you do end up doing a spoiler version, please keep a spoiler-free version too. Thanks again, and keep up the great work!

By: Roddy Barros (MKCustodial)

Roddy Barros (MKCustodial) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:03:03 +0000

Great, review Ricky! Very detailed, as usual.
Now, even though I appreciate and understand the spoiler-free nature of it, perhaps you come up with a spoiler-filled version for those of us who are International Guests and simply won’t make it to the event? If it’s not too much trouble, obviously. Maybe even for next year?