Universal Studios Hollywood
(So I kinda didn’t finish this TR to the extent that I was hoping but I wanted to kick it out the door and let you all know what I thought of HHN! In addition it was really difficult to get good shots with such little light so I didn’t get as many pictures as I would’ve liked!)
I got over my fear of roller coasters in September 2007 when I finally got on Maverick and Top Thrill Dragster for the first time and ever since then I haven’t ridden a ride that’s made me nervous. I can’t say the same about haunted houses. It took me nearly 10 years later for haunted houses to go from “no way” to seeking out the scariest ones. And I’m not entirely sure there was a single catalyst for this change, more likely it was a mix of reading more about them as well as looking for something that gave me that nervousness that I crave. Ever since I started getting into haunted houses there’s been one event that has stood above every other one: Halloween Horror Nights. Unfortunately over the past few weeks I wasn’t able to make a trip work due to work or money issues but this year was going to be different. Not only was I going to be able to hit Orlando’s HHN but I was also going to get a chance to go to Hollywood’s event as well, giving me the full range of Universal houses.
My Hollywood experience started with an early flight out of SFO after work on Friday. After my flight was miraculously not delayed I landed in LAX on time around 7pm. After grabbing the rental car and getting to my hotel by 8:30 or so, I headed straight into the park only to be met by what was the scariest part of the event: the lines. Most of the mazes were sporting 2 hours+ lines with the top mazes (Ghostbusters, Us, Stranger Things and Killer Klowns) having 3+ hour lines. I immediately changed my plans and booked an RIP tour the next day so that I could be guaranteed to get everything done that I was hoping for. So that Friday night was dedicated to scare zones, some rides and a maze or two if we could find ones with relatively short times. So with that being said, I started off my night with hopping into line for Holidayz From Hell.
Holidayz in Hell - 28/50
Concept - 7/10
I really, really like this concept. If I remember correctly, Kings Island had a similar maze to this about 10 years ago but I never went through it because I was far too nervous about houses. So many of our holidays seem so weird when you think about them and I was excited to see what Universal does with this weirdness!
Production Value - 6/10
As to be expected with Universal, the production quality was excellent. The maze was full of excellent props. The Halloween room was a little lazy just filling up the room with day-glo pumpkins although the room was also the scariest since you couldn’t tell which skeleton was a person!
Scare Potential - 7/10
Amazing scare potential. The huge number of holidays creates a great opportunity for varied scares. There was a great mix of startle scares as well as creepy atmosphere scares.
My Run - 8/15
So I had a pretty good run through this house. Like I mentioned, the Halloween room was definitely the scariest of the rooms, I got got a couple of times in that room. My main complaint with my run and this house in general was the pounding dubstep music. So I’m not entirely sure what dubstep has to do with holidays much less when it’s blasting.
Bonus Points - 0/5
Holidayz lets out into the Christmas in Hell scare zone so that’s naturally what we experienced next.
Christmas in Hell - 6/10
Both times we went through this maze we tended to hustle through this zone so unfortunately I didn’t get a ton of chance to look at the props but from I remember the props depicted various figures in various Christmas (and New Years) traditions. The characters on the other hand, I did get a much closer chance to watch and they were great! I particularly liked the creepy baby that was honestly less scary than the New Orleans Pelicans mascot. But the baby was great, running up to people and shaking his rattle in their face. Overall this was my second favorite scare zone (which admittedly was a fairly low bar).
We bought the RIP tickets for the next night in line for Holidayz so we didn’t feel the need to do any more mazes that night and instead thought that we’d take in the atmosphere, scare zones and ride a ride or two. But first we were hungry and I really wanted to try the Slimer dog so we headed to the metro sets to grab one. And along the way we went through the Toxxxic Tunnel.
Toxxxic Tunnel - 4/10
This felt like the bare minimum of what you could call a scare zone. It’s a tunnel with strobes and a few scaracters running around. The scaracters were good to be fair but the name hints at some sort of chemical spill or something but nothing was shown in the maze itself. This scare zone would’ve been much better with a couple of barrels and a few fog machines.
When we got to the metro sets it was time to eat my Slimer dog. Although it looks pretty unappetizing, it was extremely delicious and one of the best hot dogs I’ve ever eaten. After wolfing that down, we were surprised to see All Hallow’s Evil (which looked like a mini maze) with basically no line, so we went ahead and did it!
All Hallow’s Evil - 7/10
Like I said, it felt like a mini maze in a scare zone! The props were a few steps above you’d find in a regional theme park. My only complaint was that it seemed a little undermanned and the scaracters they did have throughout were concentrated in the wrong places. Instead of varying the scares and characters, it felt like half of the characters were in gilly suits, hiding along the fake grass wall. I would’ve liked to see only one of those kinds of scares and instead much more assorted demons and ghouls.
We saw that Transformers had the shortest line of all of the rides so we booked it over there.
Transformers
I already wrote a longer review in my earlier USH TR so I won’t go into much detail here other than that it was longer than I remember and generally a very good ride!
By the time we finished Transformers it was around midnight and lines were giving no indication of letting up so we decided to do one more ride and head back to the hotel. Being the shortest line in the park, we headed to Walking Dead.
Walking Dead - 5/10
Similarly, I reviewed this ride in my earlier TR so I’ll just note what’s different from what I remember. It was a lot shorter than I remember, but this time around there were more scaracters in it which made it a much better experience!
It was a good way to end the night and we headed back to our hotel to get some sleep and get ready for a full night of HHN with an RIP tour the next night!
So after getting into the park right around open, we headed to the VIP lounge where we were given the choice of hanging out for an hour or so until our tour left or we could take our Express pass into the park and go through rides or the mazes so naturally that’s what we did! First up on our list was one of our most anticipated mazes: Us.
Us - 36/50
So I was really excited about this maze. I loved the movie and although I really doubted whether there was enough material to make a good haunted house, I was optimistic. And my faith was rewarded with what ended up being my favorite maze of the night. Not only did they bring the movie to life but they also managed to give us some incredibly scary moments. Great job Universal!!
Concept - 6/10
So like I mentioned I didn’t have the highest of hopes for this house based solely on the source material. Although I loved the movie, I couldn’t think of enough scenes to fill a house when you consider that the whole concept is meeting your doppelganger and unless Universal had some new AR tech up their sleeve, they couldn’t get actors that had all of our faces.
Production Value - 8/10
In typical Universal fashion, the production was really well done. The facade was great, there were some really cool props (Umbrae on the hood of the SUV comes to mind) and I loved the tunnel sets. Also of note were the really creepy masks that the actors wore. The eyes were legitimately disturbing!
Scare Potential - 8/10
My Run - 12/15
This category reflects the highlights of all of my runs so it tends to favor houses that I did more than once. Not that Us needed it since I had a great run immediately. There were a couple of moments that legitimately made me jump and even more that creeped me out: I’m looking at you Red with your creepy bulgy eyes
Bonus Points - 2/5
Bonus points for just being an all around awesome maze. Even going through the maze multiple times and knowing where the scares were, I’d still jump!
We had time for one more maze so decided to hit the one I expected to have the longest lines all night: Stranger Things!
Stranger Things - 20/50
Concept - 5/10
Like Us, I really liked the source material but had concerns over how well it would translate to a full house. On the other hand, since this was a synthesis of Season 2 and 3 I figured they could come up with enough scenes to make a great maze!
Production Value - 7/10
Wow, this house was really really well done. It did suffer from too many black walls but the set pieces were amazing. The Mind Flayer puppet was really cool as were the demo-dogs. This might’ve been the most technically excellent maze. Too bad the rest of it wasn’t…
Scare Potential - 3/10
So the issue with this house was the lack of actors and varied scares. A wayyyyy too high percentage of scares were demo-dog puppets. I can only think of two or three scares that were actor based. It just wasn’t a scary house. Cool and technically impressive but not scary.
My Run - 4/15
Both of my runs through this house were the same unfortunately: very disappointing.
Bonus Points - 1/5
The set piece with Will and the Mind Flayer was so amazing that it deserves a bonus point. Can’t wait to see what Orlando’s looks like!
Then we headed back to the VIP area and met up with our group to head out and hit the houses!
House of 1000 Corpses - 24/50
So I’d never seen this movie before so was going in mostly blind.
Concept - 6/10
Before I went through the maze I did look up a summary on Wikipedia (and I actually just recently watched the movies) and it did seem like it would be a pretty great haunted house!
Production Value - 6/10
Good set pieces here as well. I loved the animatronics and disguised actors that appeared as part of Captain Spaulding’s tour although I didn’t really know what was going on at the time.
Scare Potential - 5/10
Although this maze leaned a whole lot more on startle scares than I usually like, it did it really well so it gets a fairly good score here!
My Run - 7/15
My run was pretty good! Got a good number of scares and enjoyed this maze much more than I thought I would!
Bonus Points - 0/5
Us
The Curse of Pandora’s Box - 26/50
I wanted to like this original maze so much. I love love love the concept of Greek myth when it comes to horror. Unfortunately aside from a spectacular first room/preshow, I got a cheap day-glo maze that seemed more like a Six Flags maze than something from Universal.
Concept - 9/10
I love the concept. There are some terribly gory, scary scenes in Greek myth and I wanted to see it here.
Production Value - 4/10
Yikes. Not good. Too much day-glo for me. I’m only giving it this many points because of that incredible first room.
Scare Potential - 5/10
Most of the scares were actors hiding in plain sight of the day-glo. The scares felt fairly cheap.
My Run - 7/15
Now to be fair, I did get scared a few times through this maze so it wasn’t all bad but I got distracted by how cheap the maze felt.
Bonus Points - 1/5
Loved the first room. It deserves a bonus point!
The Walking Dead
The Simpson’s Ride - 7/10
I actually didn’t ride this ride my last time I went to USH (mostly because I’ve ridden the Orlando one a trillion times and only had a certain amount of time to get everything done) so while the rest of our RIP group went to watch Jabbawockeez, I went to go ride Simpsons! And it was just about the same as I remembered from Orlando! Although the ride system is pretty dated, the material itself is great and every time I ride I get a couple more jokes. I definitely plan on riding this again in Orlando!
Holidayz in Hell
After doing Holidayz in Hell we went to eat at the special RIP lounge. The food was a buffet and ended up being really good! After eating, we headed down to the lower lot. But on our way down, we stopped at the Bates Motel to get our picture taken with Norman and the Bates house!
Universal Monsters: Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man
Universal Monsters are awesome and I was hoping to get the full Classic Monsters experience but instead I’ll get it in Orlando so I’m glad to get something a little different!
Concept - 5/10
I was excited but moderately unexcited about this concept vs the full Classic Monsters experience. Just restricting it to Frankenstein and Wolf Man is alright but I was less than thrilled.
Production Value - 6/10
Scare Potential - 5/10
My Run - 4/15
For whatever reason I just didn’t get super scared in this maze. Maybe it was just bad timing in my runs but I didn’t find it nearly as scary as I was hoping.
Bonus Points - 0/5
Ghostbusters - 32/50
Concept - 6/10
Production Value - 8/10
Scare Potential - 6/10
My Run - 11/15
Bonus Points - 1/5
Ghostbusters, whadda ya want? Janine yelling at users might be the best moment in any of the HHN Hollywood mazes!
Creepshow
Stranger Things
Killer Klowns From Outer Space - 33/50
Concept - 7/10
Production Value - 9/10
Scare Potential - 7/10
My Run - 10/15
Bonus Points - 0/5
Jurassic World - 7/10
Jurassic World was closed when I last went in December so I was looking forward to giving this ride a shot even though certain very high profile enthusiasts have um less than stellar views of the ride (despite not having ridden it). To start with I was never the biggest fan of Jurassic Park. I’m not much a water ride person and I don’t think I’ve ever had a ride on JP in Orlando where all of the effects and animatronics were working. With Express we were able to get on this ride in about 15 minutes and as I stepped into a damp boat I was regretting my decision since I was hoping to not get soaked. The biggest complaint people seem to have is the removal of the gate scene and the replacement of some animatronics with screens. Now maybe it’s just because I didn’t see the original movie (and gate open) in theaters but I didn’t really miss it at all. I really liked the aquarium idea and thought that the screens in the section were unusually sharp and clear. The water that sprayed over the top of the tanks was also an excellent touch. My one place of potential improvement was to potentially add some better, more potent sound effects to that section. When the dinosaur slams into the glass I want to feel it and hear the glass straining to hold back the force.
After the aquarium section, we got into classic Jurassic Park/World animatronics and the traditional “oh no a dino has escaped”! This time it’s the I-Rex and I liked the gashes in the massive cage. I also really liked seeing Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard talking to us as we climbed the lift. The top section of the ride was a little lackluster to be honest. I wanted to see more of the dinos fighting and would’ve liked to see Blue join in the fight or lead us to safety. Then came the drop which was really fun and not nearly as wet as I was fearing.
Overall I thought that Jurassic World was an improvement over Park and wish that people would at least go in with an open mind before writing this ride off as another case of “Universal lovez screenz”.
Revenge of the Mummy
I also rode this ride on my last trip to USH so similarly I won’t go too into detail here. But I enjoyed the ride a lot again and although it’s not quite as good as USF’s Mummy, it’s a top 2 ride at the park.
Killer Klowns
KKFOS was one of the mazes that I definitely wanted to do again so since I was already on the Lower Lot I figured I’d run over and get it done. This time around I had another really enjoyable run but this time it was obscured by the person behind me. He was all up on me and constantly kept stepping on my shoes as I was walking (and I wasn’t stopping at all and not going slowly, I was just following the person ahead of me). I turned around and gave him a dirty look a few times and eventually he got the hint and backed off a little bit.
Us x2
At this point in the night I had about 15 or 20 minutes until the park closed and I was hoping to make the most of it. My plan was to hit Us and then run over to go to House of 1k Corpses before it closed but after my first run of Us, I got out at 12:59 and without enough time to get over to House, hustled to get in line for Us one more time. These last two runs reinforced my belief that Us is the best house at the event. These times through I noticed that the owl from the movie was supposed to be there but that it was just missing when I heard a metal rod pop out of the tree and heard an owl but didn’t see an owl.
Overall, I was incredibly impressed with this event. Of course not every house in this event is a slam dunk but there were a few houses that definitely are my top ones at the moment. Universal did a great job with the event and I plan on going back again next year!