Six Nights in Scary - Day 4 - Behind the Screams & HHN

[Rescuer]

Wednesday 18th October

Index is here

Daytime

The plan had always been that this was to be our full on HHN day. We had a Behind the Scenes Tour for 3 of the houses this morning and we had purchased express pass for this evening, a first for us.

A gorgeous morning today, we had another in room breakfast and then headed for the parks via the Sapphire Falls boat again.

Look at that sunshine.

A few weeks ago I’d read that although express passes were sold out there was often the possibility inside the park to upgrade the standard express where you can use it to enter each house once to an unlimited option on the day for around $30pp (prices vary though), they do sell out though. We were all up for this as it meant we would be able to do the incredibly busy houses like Stranger Things more than just the once. We headed straight into the park and went to the express pass kiosk, they don’t advertise this option, you have to ask for it, I got the impression the team member was a little surprised I was asking for this. She was lovely, upgraded our tickets by printing new ones and giving us lots of hints and tips on how to make the most of this without exhausting ourselves.

We nipped into the shop and bought a new HHN cup but the tumbler one with all the IP houses on it. It looks nice but the top leaks if it is too full. It was more for home but it was refillable for the day.

I saw a really cool range of Minion Universal Monsters stuff
We walked up to the Minions area to fill the mug, there was looked like high school bands parading.

Our behind the Screams check in was at 10.15am so we left the park and headed round to Blue Man Group for this.

We were shown to our table, there was 2 tables for our tour, 11 people I think. You were given a lanyard, earphone and transmitter.

The first of our houses was The Last of Us

The guide was full of information. He told a story of how you could remember the stages of the infected and that they were like a break up.
Runner – first you run away from your ex.
Stalker – then you start stalking them on social media
Clicker – all the clicking through their accounts
Bloater – then you break up eat all the ice cream and sweets becoming bloated.
There was a poster just like this as you entered the house.

Inside there were lots of Easter eggs relating to the different types of weapons within the game.
The guide spoke a lot about the development of the house and how the creator of the game had come to meet the cast. Many of the rooms in this house were no photos. It was still really interesting to hear about all the different effects they used to create the scares inside the houses. Water effects seemed very popular this year and you could tell as the flooring changed. They use all sorts of things even Christmas lights covered with foam to recreate charred body parts, fascinating.

I haven’t played the game so it probably wasn’t quite as meaningful for me, they had done a really good job with it but I don’t think it was quite as detailed as other houses I’ve seen in the past.

The next house was the Darkest Deal.

I love the story of this house, very the Devil went down to Georgia, we had listened to the story but it was great to have all the different parts of it pointed out. I love the smell in here.

The guide told us some history of the use of corn and HHN related to hurricanes, the corn in here was inside the house and fake.
The general story is of the musician Pinestraw Spruce who wants to be famous, does a deal with the collector and his gradual decline of loosing his soul as the collector took everyone around him as well. It is a really good story.

I’ll leave you to imagine wheee they hid scare actors in here. There was even a scare actor inside a piano in this house.

The last house was Oddfellow, the sheer amount of detail in here was absolutely incredible. We had not had a great walk through on Monday and I wondering how we would feel about this house in the daylight but it was magnificent.

Lots of freaky clown and circus stuff in here with nods to Jack the Clown and his origin, old costumes and posters. The story is that Oddfellow invites you back after the show and the cast are angry and unhappy that you’ve been allowed in. They are certainly not welcoming.

In each of the houses they have a hidden frog and in this one the frog wears a ringmaster hat. Lots of props in here from previous houses such as puppet theatre. It was too dark to get a good detailed photo but the amount of props in here was immense and the way they light it in the dark is amazing.

By the time we were finished here I was really looking forward to giving this house another go with the lights off.

These 3 houses have a massive amount of walking involved and there was nowhere for a toilet stop this time. The tour didn’t seem to last as long as the one last year. I really like doing these though I think it adds an extra layer to your experience of HHN and I’d book one again next time.

The guide walked us back into the park and gave people the option of staying in the park if he could scan their daytime tickets or walking back to the Blue Man Group. You don’t need daytime park tickets for this tour which I think is great, it was $120pp. We opted just to leave so we could have lunch and then a break before HHN.

We thought about Cowfish for lunch but then decided we would just go for a quick service Citywalk option. We filled the mug downstairs at the Coca Cola stand. Ds and Dh were set on Panda Express. Beijing beef and honey walnut shrimp with noodles for Ds

Honey sesame chicken and honey walnut shrimp for Dh with rice.

They really enjoyed their lunch. Around $20 after discount. Brilliant value at a theme park and tasty.

I didn’t want a Panda Express after eating a Wok bowl last night so I went to Moes and got the salad bowl, sirloin steak, peppers, jalapeños, corriander, cheese and chipotle ranch. Fabulous and spicy. $11 after discount. You get tortillas with the meals here, ds ate them.

It was lovely and warm so we all decided we fancied a Menchies - $14. Thankfully the no added sugar ones have been there each time I’ve looked.

Oh and a picture of my new loungefly just because it is a thing of beauty in the sunshine. It does, however, glow in the dark so it wasn’t getting any HHN outings. 😂

A whole debate ensued about how we were getting back to Aventura but eventually decided to walk as the weather was so lovely.

Rather than a nap, which I knew would not happen for me, Dh and I decided on some hot tub time. Ds wanted to Facetime his girlfriend so opted not to join us.

We just lay by the pool in the sun with some drinks and snacks dipping in and out of the hot tub which made my legs feel refreshed. I’d already completed my steps for the day.

Our room was on the 15th floor up there, 2 floors from the top with the curtains open.

[Rescuer]

Night time - HHN

We had a plan, for it to work we needed to be in the park and in stay and scream for 5pm. We managed this fine and our stay and scream of choice tonight was New York, we entered about 4.50pm. The line for Stranger Things was round about 3 blocks, I was glad not to be heading for that line. Instead we walked past it all into the central courtyard to double check our plan.

About 5pm we got up to figure out exactly which line we needed, there were people everywhere, 3 houses in this area open early, Stranger Things at 5.15pm, which was carnage, Exorcist which opens at 5.30 and had a huge line and our choice, Duelling Dragons which opened at 5.15pm and had little to no line.

On our way round to the line we past the Twisted Tater stand and Ds was keen to get one, he went for the garlic parmesan option, these are great, $9.49 and freshly made.

That next line is Stranger Things.

The line began to move just as we got in it.

It was 5.10pm and there might have been 20 people in front of us in the express line. It opened right on 5.15pm. Another really good walkthrough, we chose fire this time and fire won. We were out of the house by 5.20pm. (8/10) Ds was already loving unlimited express. Look at that smug face.

We were a bit unsure what to do next, we chatted to a team member who advised us not to be tempted with Stranger Things as even with express you’d need to wait in that long line to get to the point where the queue splits for standard and express, same with Exorcist.

Duelling Dragons again for us. There was no wait as no one was through the other lines yet, there was nobody in front of us and I was thinking it would be great but a team member went through and you could see the walkie talkie thing which made it less immersive, not quite as good a run through for this attempt, we went through the ice choice this time but fire won. (7/10)

We were back out before 5.30pm, a bit of a walk back on ourselves to find the entrance to the Exorcist line, Stranger Things was still all the way around this block.
If you zoom in you can see all the hordes of people across the water at Simpsons starting to move into their lines for Last of Us and Monsters.

We found the start of our line and walked across to the line which was only just starting to move.

.
At least you scan in for express at this point.

The wait time was showing at 25 minutes but the standard line looked longer than that.

We waited 17 minutes with express. While we were waiting, I saw a girl come out one of the houses crying, she must have been about 13, these houses can be pretty intense. I wasn’t sure about this house. I think it helped that we had seen the film. This was a scary house. The scare actors who were the girls were brilliant. There was one scene in the living room with the 2 girls, I was convinced they were both mannequins, one was but the other who you walk close to who is in a chair was not, brilliant scare. They used the original music in here, it had a very ominous feel. It had had some bad reviews and lots of discussion over disgusting smells (I didn’t find any smells too bad) but we loved it. (9/10)

Stranger things next, we were all eagerly anticipating this one. The line said it was 50 minutes. We walked in through Jimmy Fallon, the crowd in New York had dissipated now.

We scanned in and walked for about 7 minutes before even stopping, not sure how many people we must have walked past, after this we waited for 9 minutes. There was a woman and child who had to walk all the way back, she was apologising saying she had entered the wrong line.

Closest I’ve got to an outfit photo, Asda Stranger Things top, trusty leggings, Stranger Things Loungefly.

This house was just like being in Series 4 it started at Eddies with Chrissy being twisted on the ceiling and had all the iconic scenes, even a faint blast of Running Up That Hill. There was loads of scare actors and you walked through the middle of the battle with Eleven and One. There was even stuff happening above you. Vecna had massive long claws and I saw him out at a person in front of us, his claws millimetres away from her head. I’d have loved to have seen this house with the lights on but it was part of the 6 house tour. (8.5/10)

It was still only 6.15pm, not even dark and we had completed 4 houses. Time for a toilet stop, the ones next to the stage at HHN are a nightmare, massive lines at the Ladies, although it moves quite fast and a wee Diet Coke top up at the Minion juice stand.

Another house was in order, Yeti this time. When this one was announced Ds was convinced that this would be the dark horse of HHN and one of our favourites.

The Team members on duty at the express entrance to this house were extra vigilant so I don’t know if people had been trying to sneak in the wrong line. They were like nightclub bouncers but worse. We waited 12 minutes for this.

Oh we loved it, the Yeti’s were comical yet terrifying, it was kitchy and 1950s and had some great scenes. There was one where a baby Yeti had been killed and the scare actor was like ‘take that Yeti’ and then a huge one jumps out from behind her and carries her off. There was one where they used compressed air and a Yeti hand above you. It was so much fun and they had the classic, you think it’s all over… no wait another Yeti coming to get you. (9/10)

Rather than opting to cross the park or move areas Dh was keen for us to give Stranger Things another go. It was a 90 minute wait, it was 30 minutes since we came out of the line and I am sure we passed some of the same people still waiting. Our wait was 24 minutes but at least 7 of that was walking) We had an even better walkthrough this time, the scare actors that play Eddie and Dustin at the Demibat bit were awesome. (9/10)

One thing I did notice was there was loads of cute Loungefly’s, even Disney ones but really a Mickey ghost Loungefly that glows in the dark is not really what you want in front of you on your walk through of a house.

It was 7.15pm andjust starting to get a little dark.

We opted for another Yeti. Our Express Pass was fully inspected before we were allowed to enter the line, lol. Another brilliant walk through, each of us noticing something new. (9/10)

7.30pm now and dark, Ds was desperate to ride Rip Ride in the dark, the express works for rides as well as houses, I didn’t really fancy it so Dh went with him, they waited 10 minutes and went for My Chemical Romance – Welcome to the Black Parade as it is a HHN song after all. It’s not the same now they’ve streamlined the main song options, no more I will Survive and I can never get the secret song list to work properly.

While they were away I filled the mug and had a packet of Quest tortilla chips sitting outside the Minion Café. It was quite a chilled place to wait. Minions Café was open but they were speaking to everyone going in saying they needed to use mobile ordering.

Finally, time to switch areas, we cut through Vamp 69.

The scare actors were totally on it, I saw one chase someone half the length of it and one came up begging Ds to help him only to be dragged off mid-sentence by a vampire. I didn’t try to take any pictures.

Chucky Ultimate Kill Count was next, this is inside the Fast and Furious Line and has been consistently slated as the worst house of the event, yet it always seems to have a long line. The premise is Universal were going to build a Chucky House, invited Chucky down to tour it and he thought there was not enough murdering so took over. It was showing as a 70 minute wait, we waited 12 minutes. The little pre show tv interview was quite funny, we all really like Chucky having watched the new series. This house is more Chucky animatronics and puppets than anything else, there were a few scares. In between the 2 sections there was a scare actor begging you not to continue. There was a guest activated trigger in this house for you to press to set off a special effect which was cool. And say what you want, the 8ft Chucky was pretty terrifying. The house wasn’t terrible it was the weakest one we had been through. (7.5/10 – only because dh gave it a decent score)

We carried on round the park visiting the bat lady stilt walker in Shipyard 32. Filling the mug at Richters and nipping to the loo which was just as chaotic at the back of the park. Look how beautiful the MIB building looks at HHN.

We were heading for Dr Oddfellow next, it was a 60 minute wait ands we waited 32 minutes, our longest wait of the evening but that did include walking about 2 miles, lol. It was fine though as we were beside a nice group of chatty people in line. This was so much better than our walkthrough last time. I don’t know if its because we appreciated the house more or if it was just our luck. I jumped out of my skin right at the start with the welcome to our show clown popping out, again the scare actor that was Oddfellow was amazing, staring you down and not breaking eye contact. It doesn’t actually make it much less scary knowing some of the things that are coming. So house number 9 done by 9pm. (8.5/10)

Next door to Darkest Deal next. The walking at the houses over this side were a killer though, not helped by all the construction at the kids zone. This one was a 60 minute wait but we only waited 8 minutes. This was good again, I even got the piano scare. The scare actors must be knackered when the casts swap, they are totally aware of who is where going through the house and if you make eye contact with them they seem to play to you. Another good one. (8.5/10)

We were getting a little weary and a little hungry but since we were right at Last of Us it would have been rude not to. Look at the size of the potential lines for this.

It was a 90 minute wait and the lines were massive, we ended up waiting 46 minutes including walking time, this felt long. In the standard line I saw small kids being carried looking shattered. Brilliant walk through on this one. I think between us we got most of the scares from the clickers and bloaters. (9/10)

We were having the best time but knew we needed a break, so we headed round towards Finnegans to have some sit down time and food. We cut through the Jungle of Doom scare zone and saw security staff chasing after a guest to give them an absolute telling off for something they had done to a scare actor.

Asked at Finnegans for a table and they said it would be a 35 minute wait, I wasn’t enthused by this news but we agreed to give it a bit of time and just found some stairs to sit on. PHTO, we were pretty knackered. Thankfully it was only a 15 minute wait. It was cooling down.

Our dinner was pretty much a carbon copy of the first time. Food was great and our server was really nice. Finnegans was pretty freezing again though, I’d managed without my hoodie till I went inside.

In Finnegans we made a plan for what else we wanted to accomplish this evening.

Ds was keen to give Blood Moon another go. PHOTO. We waited 10 minutes. Had a pretty good walk through but I still think it could have been better, Very beautiful house though. (8.5/10)

Exorcist was just next door and had been one of the highlights for DS so we thought we would give that another go. A 7 minute wait, not quite as good as the first time but there were 3 girls in front of us giggling and taking the mickey as they first went in, they must have got so far and were hit with every scare, it was hilarious watching them. Pretty sure the scare actor, the girl in the chair actually smiled at us after frightening the living daylights out of these girls. (8.5/10)

Since we were over here, Blood Moon got another go.

We waited 10 minutes.

There were scares but it didn’t really live up to some of the reviews I’d read for me anyway. (8.5/10)

It was coming up for midnight at we were surprisingly still going strong. We had not been to Monsters yet and I really wanted to do at least one if not two more walk throughs of this. The walk does put you off though. Anyway we traipsed over towards ET. The wait was only 8 minutes but I swear 5 of that was continuous walking. It was good again but I got the majority of the scares and I was in the middle. At one point Dh who was behind me said something so I turned round and when I turned back there was a scare actor right in front of me, I almost peed my pants at this point, Dh was creasing himself behind me. (8/10)

We walked all the way back up to the exit, it was tempting to duck under the ropes but we didn’t., another 10 minutes of walking and we did Monsters again. There was a woman in front of me who got hit with most scares and screamed the whole way round, it was funny to watch. (8.5/10)

That was 16 houses and we were heading into the last hour of the event. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a Universal park for this length of time ever. We topped up the juice next to the Sponge Bob shop and made the decision that anymore houses would be the ones with less distance to walk, the long walkers were taking too much time and energy now.

House 17 – Back to the Exorcist with an 8 minute wait (8/10)

Experience of the night – Yeti, no wait, bouncer on the line was miserable but all other cast members we past were giving us fist bumps and welcoming us to Yeti as we passed them in the line. There was nobody in front or behind us.

Dh was going to go in first then changed his mind as he was struggling to focus in the dark (supposedly). We got every single scare, the first lot of Yeti’s were so fast, darting in and out so all 3 of us got the same scare. I think this was not just the best walkthrough of the night but the best walkthrough of HHN for us, it was just brilliant. (10/10)

Nothing was going to surpass this but we had a bit of time left so Dh chose Stranger Things. We had a 6 minute wait but there was still a very sizable standard line. (7.5/10)

House number 20 – Yeti to finish. It was never going to be as good, just the walk but no actual wait. (8/10)

It was 1.40am and we could have carried on but decided 20 houses were enough. Ds was keen to see if he could facetime his girlfriend so we walked passed Mel’s round to Dark Zodiac and sat on a bench to watch the scare zone while he showed her what HHN was like, don’t think she was a fan.

We sat until 2am when they popped all the lights on. Everyone clapped off the scare actors who were waving as they left the streets, it was lovely.

Never did I actually imagine that we would go from 5pm – 2am! We hobbled out of the parks and caught the first boat going our way, thankfully a Sapphire Falls one. There was no way I was walking up those stairs though and got the lift. By the time we got to the room I’d walked 38k steps. Literally fell into bed after an absolutely amazing night.

Here is a breakdown of our houses, ratings and waits.

1 Dragons ~ (8/10) no wait
2 Dragons - (7/10) no wait
3Exorcist ~ (9/10) 17 minute wait
4 Stranger things ~ (8.5/10) 16 minute wait
5 Yeti ~ (9/10)12 minute wait
6 Stranger Things ~ (9/10) 24 minute wait
7 Yeti ~ (9/10) 14 minute wait
8 Chucky ~ (7.5/10) 12 minute wait.
9 Oddfellow ~ (8.5/10) 32 minutes including walk
10 Darkest deal ~ (8.5/10) 8 minute walk
11 Last of us ~ (9/10) 46 minutes wait.
12 Blood moon ~ (8.5/10) 10 minutes wait.
13 Exorcist / (8.5/10) 7 minutes wait.
14 Blood Moon (8/10) 8 minutes wait.
15 Monsters ~ (8/10) / 7 minutes.
16 Monsters ~ 5 minutes (8.5/10)
17 Exorcist / 00:58-1:06 (8/10) 8 minutes
18 Yeti 01:11-Walk in (10/10)
19 Stranger Things (7.5/10) 6 minutes wait
20 Yeti (8/10) walk in

[MrsSilverStar]

what an amazing night! Can't believe how long you lasted, very impressive! Sounds like so much fun.

[Lizzim]

The houses all sound awful (I can’t bear anything scary), but wow have you guys got some stamina!

[rafjen]

Wow- That's a lot of houses- Yeti was probably our favourite- Monsters, Blood Moon close seconds- but the walk through can vary so much

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by MrsSilverStar

what an amazing night! Can't believe how long you lasted, very impressive! Sounds like so much fun.

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It was great fun! I can’t believe we closed the event, last year we didn’t even get to midnight and had a later night at MNSSHP than any of the horror nights.

Originally Posted by Lizzim

The houses all sound awful (I can’t bear anything scary), but wow have you guys got some stamina!

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😂yes if you don’t like scary this day wouldn’t be for you. Oh how my legs aches the next day though. 😂

Originally Posted by rafjen

Wow- That's a lot of houses- Yeti was probably our favourite- Monsters, Blood Moon close seconds- but the walk through can vary so much

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Totally agree about Yeti and Monsters, they were my top 2

[jocat]

Wow, what a day, and night, for you. You have so much stamina! Glad there was a boat for you to get back quickly. Don’t blame you for avoiding those spiral stairs at Sapphire Falls! 😂

The unlimited express passes really seemed to work well for you. Would you do them again?

You mentioned RRR - are many of the rides open on HHN?

Love how you said the lights go on and everyone claps the scare actors at the end of the night.

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by jocat

Wow, what a day, and night, for you. You have so much stamina! Glad there was a boat for you to get back quickly. Don’t blame you for avoiding those spiral stairs at Sapphire Falls! 😂

The unlimited express passes really seemed to work well for you. Would you do them again?

You mentioned RRR - are many of the rides open on HHN?

Love how you said the lights go on and everyone claps the scare actors at the end of the night.

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Definitely surprised us how much we did!

Yes I’d do ultimate express again, it helped we paid for express a while back and it was only $30 for the upgrade. Don’t know that it’s been offered before but it worked really well for us.

Yes some of the rides are open, Gringotts, mib, the mummy, rrr and maybe transformers. They use the ET lines which is why that’s closed.

[littletink]

Wow! That’s a mahoosive steps total 😳 what a fantastic day/night/morning you all had.

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by littletink

Wow! That’s a mahoosive steps total 😳 what a fantastic day/night/morning you all had.

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Thanks. Pretty sure my legs were absolutely fine at the end of the night 😂