Today on the UOFanatic podcast, we are saying goodbye to Halloween Horror Nights 35. You were amazing, and we will miss you.
🔴 RECOMMENDED VIDEOS/PLAYLISTS
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★ TABLE OF CONTENTS ★
- 00:00 Introduction
- 00:53 HHN Trip Report
- 26:00 House Rankings
- 31:48 Closing
🔥 TOPICS IN THIS PODCAST🔥
- HHN
- Mythos
- Today Café
- House Rankings
- Waymo Taxi
Show Length: 35:44
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Trip setup
Before all the turmoil, before the announcement of no express on multi night tickets, we had already planned a second trip out to HHN. Typically those were the tickets I would buy and it all would make pretty good dollars and sense. Of course this year we had that trap set for us, and I decided not to let it phase me and we would still hit up the event for a second time. This trip was smaller in cast, and smaller and length of stay. This would be 4 nights with my daughter (we both share October birthdays) and my son who was in a wedding in Orlando at the same time as us, would join us after the wedding and hang out with us for the last 2 nights of the trip.
Thursday 10/15
We flew out of Boston Logan airport on a 10am flight, happy to say uneventful and on time. I planned our usual food stop at publix but this time I wanted to try something a little different, maybe even a little crazy. I knew outside of the airport there was a good chance that Waymo driverless cabs are operating in the area. My daughter was a bit nervous but we needed an adventure. So let me tell you how this went. It was obviously cheap, I think it cost $11 from the Publix about 15 minutes away on Universal Blvd. There is no extra cost like tipping, because you know, who would you tip? We were able to access the trunk of the vehicle after some fumbling around, loaded our groceries and suitcases and got into the death trap. The car for the most part drove as one would expect. A couple of times a backed up lane and a late decision by the vehicle almost made for a snarl in traffic, but it did for the most part recover from little things like that. The entertainment system within the vehicle was pretty nice. The biggest fun we had during the ride, was the look of surprise from people driving next to us. The biggest danger we had during the ride were those same people trying to mess with the cab. There were a couple of teenagers who were literally swerving at it, wanting to just see how it respond. Fortunately for me it did indeed respond correctly. Look I understand now this is a bit of a controversy with AI at the top of the news stories and all of that, but people once again proved to be the real villains in this story. Anyway it did have a really problematic fault during our trip. We arrived at Sapphire and everything was going as I would have thought until it decided to not continue forward toward the lobby, but instead maneuver towards the exit. You could see the heads up display printing something along the lines of finding a place to pull over. It hit the end of that strip at the light and just pulled over leaving us there with bags and groceries. We couldn’t help but laugh and fortunately we hadn’t bought that much at Publix, but we basically dragged our luggage and our groceries all the way up that strip to the lobby. My final Weymo assessment, lets not worry too too much about our AI overlords replacing humanity just yet, if it cant figure out where to drop off passengers at a hotel.
Check in at sapphire
I think it was roughly 2 or 2:30pm when we were checking in so we were not really surprised to hear our room was ready. Our room was on the 6th floor and had a beautiful view of the lagoon with the boat dock just below us in guest house 3. Very convenient location, we could estimate if a boat was going to be easy or available right from there. I might as well mention this now as there is probably no good place to insert it in the trip. Over the course of the trip we found that the boat was just too crowded here at sapphire, and I can tell you for sure that a very large sample size of those using it were staying at Aventura and even Cabana Bay. It felt like about 50% honestly and we very rarely opted to even use the boat because there were just to many people using it. I cant help but think at some point they will have to do the Disney move and eventually have to try to discourage those resorts from using the Sapphire water taxi. I know the average guest wasn’t aware of what was happening, but it was obvious to anyone who knew the trick. I am not by any means casting stones, I have done this myself and during this trip, I found myself more than once using the Royal Pacific boat to avoid the long sapphire lines. Anyway, it was blatant and I think eventually its going to change. It will have to change.
Today café
I am definitely starting to be one of those people who eats at the same places each trip. I am becoming an addict of the Arthur Avenue sandwich at the Today Café. The funny part is I can only eat half of that gigantic sandwich but its so good I don’t care if Im not getting my moneys worth so to speak. I never used to be like this, but hey I’m loving it.
It was probably about 4pm by now, and we had our belly’s full and it was time to see how this Stay & Scream had evolved since we basically avoided it during opening weekend. At this point, all 3 early houses, were like 10 minute waits. We did all 3 of them with no issues. The houses seemed to be staffed fine, which we had heard on some days is definitely an issue. Unfortunately, Ozzy was a significant wait by the time it opened and stayed there through the evening. Again we had express, we weren’t going to miss it, but it was a little sad because I was really hoping to enjoy the attraction more than once per visit. Sure I could have, but I find it difficult to waiting more than 45 minutes for anything with the knowledge I have express passes. Also, sure, we could have used the express pass, but I didn’t want my only house visit on this day to be in day light.
As the event progressed and officially opened, we did begin to use our express pass on every house. We started at the back of the event with Invasion and worked our way counter clockwise but skipping Ozzy to be the last house of the night. Just as fantastic as I remembered. The express pass lines were fantastic, even better than our last night on opening weekend. I don’t think we waited 15 minutes for anything. We did not completely close the event but we came pretty close, probably started heading out about 1:20 or so, I remember making it back to the room just about 2.
I won’t spend any time here discussing my final thoughts on the houses just yet, I’ll save that for after the trip report portion and talk about them in my final ranking order and so forth.
Friday 10/16
We had a late start after a long travel day combined with a late night, so no real surprise there. My daughter rode Hulk, which I would be fine with never riding again as far as I am concerned. You get to a certain age and that coaster just beats the stuffing out of you. We enjoyed the park slowly making our way around to Mythos, which we had a reservation for. We were early and gave it a shot but they said they were just so busy they couldn’t accommodate us with more than 30 minutes. Which was fine, we weren’t bother by this at all. We only had like 20 minutes to kill, so why not make our way to Seuss landing. We were originally thinking Cat in the Hat, but the trolley in the sky was right there, with just a 10 minute wait, so why the heck not. Hadn’t ridden the attraction in at least a couple of years and it has such great views of Seuss Landing, really the entire park but especially there at Seuss.
With that done, we strolled right back to Mythos. Remember I told you im in that dining rut, repeating the same meals on each vacation. But in my defense, this one is going away, so I’ll keep saying goodbye until it does.
We started out with the Mythos Signature Bread Service, which was a little different than the last time we got it. Instead of a variety of breads this time it was just a single wood-fired lavash bread loaf. The dips were a red pepper hummus, a smoked paprika, sumac oil, kalamata olive tapenade and a warm baked feta, roasted tomato sauce.
I got the Chef’s Signature Greek Salad with a Souvlaki Chicken Kabob. The salad is shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, red onions, Kalamata olives, crackers, cucumber, with a herb-lemon vinaigrette dressing and marinated feta. I definitely enjoyed this, along with the bread service it was the right amount of food. I was content but not too full.
My daughter got the Honey Lemon Glazed Salmon which the menu describes as
Verlasso salmon, Brussels sprouts, confit fingerling potatoes, oyster mushrooms, sweet pea ricotta purée and a fennel salad. She seemed to enjoy that as well. Of course we washed it all down with potion of the gods. It’s just so good.
We were wrapping up our meal probably about 3pm, so wanted to head over to Studios for some stay & scream, particularly because this was our night without express. I typically go to Halloween Horror Nights every year for at least 2 long weekends, and therefore it was never a bad move for me to invest in the previously offered Frequent Fear Plus with Express. Again, not as a point of bragging, the ticket made dollars and sense. So this was the first time since 2009 I was without express. I was curious how the night would unfold.
The first move was easy, knock down some houses before the night starts. We did 5 houses, but Ozzy still eluded us, that one is just so long from the start. We did Chaos & Control twice, Stranger things twice and then hellraiser once. As the park opened and began to get busier we started exploring the park, the zones and stopping for some beers and cocktails. Rain definitely started messing with us, which was a bit concerning to be honest, since the one thing that usually stops happening during rain is the scare zones, which was basically our plan.
I went to meet up with some friends who were holed up at fast food boulevard. Had a good time with them, and they assured me since there was no lightning going on, the lagoon show, Stranger Things, Return To Hawkins, would be happening. The rain did actually stop about 20 or so minutes before the show start. We found a really good spot right up front at the railing. An unobstructed view, we were left of center, but considering it was only 20 minutes until show time, we were really impressed. A couple of minutes before the show started, the rain started again, fortunately it was light and it stayed very light throughout the duration of the show. Talking a light sprinkle, felt good actually.
As a fan, I really enjoyed this show. So many memories, and so much fantastic music. They did a great job at delivering so many of the really emotional scenes from all 5 seasons. But that set list, wow. Let me lay it out for you in case you could not attend. This is including the pre-lead up to the show, not just the show itself. “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie, “I Think We’re Alone Now” by Tiffany, “Take on Me” by a-ha, “Cold as Ice” by Foreigner, “Upside Down” by Diana Ross, “Never Ending Story” by Limahl, “Baba O’Riley” by The Who, “Stranger Things” (main theme) by Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein, “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by The Clash, “The Upside Down” by Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein, “Play With Me” by Extreme, “Photos in the Woods” by Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein, “Every Breath You Take” by The Police, “Master of Puppets” by Metallica, “Running Up That Hill” by Katie Busch and an absolutely brilliant choice to wrap it up with “Purple Rain” by Prince. Which unironically we could feel as the light rain continued and started to pick up again as the show winded down. This will be one of those memories I reflect on for years to come. Horror Night Nightmares has a playlist if you are interested in Spotify. Search HHN 35 Stranger Things Return to Hawkins and it should pop right up for you.
That rain continued for quite a bit, so we used ponchos and I thought lets get to Diagon Alley, there is plenty of cover there, drinks, and while I wasn’t optimistic, the death eaters maybe? Well they weren’t, the rain impacts Diagon as well. Went to the hopping pot, and after a shot of Fire Whisky, got myself a Guiness and we waited to see the Dragon breathe fire. In the rain, a bit different feeling, and I had never seen it. So at least I could check that off the list. Enjoyed our beverages in Nocturnal Alley, found a nice barrel to lean up against, drop my phone and watch some of the Bruins game.
As we were getting low on our drinks, we did find the weather to once again start to cooperate. We started exploring some of the zones, we backtracked to the Simpsons area because we are big fans of the clown chainsaw horde. There are 2 female clowns in particular that are our favorites, and we were thrilled we got to watch them for longer than usual.
We then made our way toward Blood Noir, and I don’t know if it was the rain, or what, but what a pleasant experience walking up about 20 minutes before the show start and still being able to sit a little off center to the right, and only about half way up the stadium. We love this show and we were mentally prepared for the fight that usually occurs getting in and out of there, so that was an unexpected wonderful surprise. If you weren’t aware, we are Nightmare Fuel stans. I am actually dumbfounded every year when I see how many people complain they are back, and a really big portion of those people admit they have never even seen it. This might be my favorite iteration of the show. I thought it was so smart to take the fuel girls and make them be some of the good guys this year. They were the absolutely badass vampire hunters. I would love to ask each of them “How do you know your going to be able to learn how to do tricks with fire?” I mean what if youre wrong? Not a very forgiving career choice right? Having Auzzy Blood the sword swallower added a unique twist to the show as well. Bravo everyone, I love it, and I hope the troupe continues to be featured at HHN and I do hope they make these sort of big changes each year now. We are spoiled I think.
Have never just sat and had a drink at Club Horror before, and you know, we quite liked it. It has a fun vibe, and I definitely don’t miss the chaotic scare zone that occupied this tiny space. This is a great use of the area and Im all in.
We backtracked across the bridge towards Simpsons, had another walk through to wave at our chainsaw girlies. We knew we wanted to end the night at Downtown Clowntown, so that was the thought process.
There honestly is nothing wrong with the Fortnitetmare zone, its more about the space. When they have pumpkins hanging in the trees, its probably my favorite zone to walk through but that’s the problem. You can’t really stay here. So Fortnite was as good as anything here for me honestly, and I’m not really sorry about it. I spent as much time here as I do any other zone that has been here. This is just a well themed path to me.
Next up Circus of Decay, I love the lore and this zone was a really good representation of it. There are a lot of little show moments and they were really good, but our timing was off. We did find a bench and stay for about 20 minutes, but it was right around a shift change and I just know this zone is better than my memories will be as a result. I am so glad Cindy finally got her moment, and I loved seeing the caretaker again. Lady Luck I almost forgot, that was such a good year and I was excited to see her again.
Infernal Carnival of Nightmares is as good an entrance zone as can be. Its weakness is its an entry zone. Its difficult to spend some time here unless you are arriving or leaving. Jack and Oddfellow being very available heckling the crowd I have to say was even more fun than I expected.
Downtown Clowntown hands down was my favorite. We spent about an hour here I think this night. I did not really spend much time at the Killer Clownz portion but that was really just because that absolutely just became a big photo op. No complaint from me, I love them, I got some great photos myself, but its not where I wanted to spend my time. Pushing past them up at the center of Downtown ClownTown was one of the two sections that were my absolute favorite. I will tell you, I don’t love the redesign of my favorite icon Chance, but the scareactors portrayal of her was no disappointment whatsoever. We watched her for quite sometime. I love the Amanda reference, years ago, 2015 I believe, there was a stage show called The Carnage Returns, and Chance was just absolutely torturing a woman named Amanda. I laughed out loud when I heard the reference and the victim repeatedly saying her name was not Amanda. This area was a bit of a surprise to me, despite all the props they beat all my expectations here. When it comes to the Art the Clown, Terrifier area, I just couldn’t get into it, im sure it was fantastic but it was just too busy. It was a deep crowd and everyone holding their phone up, unless you camped for hours I just don’t think this was something we were going to be able to do. But just around the corner, I found my 2nd favorite part of the zone. Delancy Dan is one of the greatest things I have ever seen. This was the creepiest clown ever and he just stands there lonely with his 3 balloons. Pictures wont do this justice because these scareactors have a special camouflage talent. If a burst of fog happens they just vanish, disappear, its amazing. If you just hang out in the area, and aren’t staring at him, he will actually sneak right up on you and honestly even cause a scare to you as you look up and notice him right in front of you standing there still. Its legit terrifying. Bravo to you Dan, I hope they bring you back, my friend, for the 40th.
I almost forgot, as we were moving through the Circus of Decay, we caught a glimpse of HamiKuma at Five and Dime for the meet and greet. We saw only one person waiting for a photo and we were so excited. We had just assumed that would be a popular meet and greet and we would never be willing to wait in line for it, but there it was and it just happened and I loved meeting him, or her, not sure to be honest.
Other than that last moment of being out of order, we made our way out around 1:30 through the Infernal Carnival and paused for a few minutes to enjoy some banter between Jack and Oddfellow. We had a great night, a different night, and I could definitely see this being a new trend, a night we just do shows and zones.
Saturday 10/17
The bad weather continued, woke up to rain, and that was killing our pool day plans. We did have our mimosas to get us started but it did rain pretty much all morning. My son was coming in around 1pm, and it was starting to look like we’d be waiting in the room for him. I had rented a Buena vista rental ECV which would will be waiting at bell services for him. Briefly, he was in a significant car accident last year and still has some mobility issues as a result.
When he arrived, the rain was still ongoing, but it was pretty light. By now we were really bored in our room and decided with the light rain, we could easily make it next door to Royal Pacific and eat at Jakes American Bar. Got myself a B-1 Bomber burger, a safe and reliable choice there. It is a short rib and brisket burger blend with cheddar cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, onion ring and a pickle. We had a couple of rounds of drinks, and watched some college football. Ohio State was on, and I really love watching that kid Jeremiah Smith burn the field, so that was some fun on this rainy Saturday. We could see it actually clearing up, so that was great. We went in to the parks for a little bit from there. Enjoyed a couple of attractions, but also my son wanted to get his Tribute Store shopping in, so we wound down with that before heading back to the room.
On this evening, which by the way, was my daughters actual birthday, we were taking her to SeaWorld for Howl-O-Scream and it would be all of our first time.
We took an Uber over and arrived a little before 6:30 which was the ideal time from what I understood. They would let you into a holding area there where an opening ceremony would take place right at 7pm.
This is after all a Universal podcast so I won’t dwell on this topic for very long, but figured touching on it for comparison was a good idea. As someone who has been visiting HHN in Orlando since 2008, and has seen the HHN Hollywood version, as well as attended Knotts Scary Farms I have to tell you I didn’t even think it was real. It couldn’t be this bad could it? Let me start by saying, they let us in at 7 as expected but the first house we approached not only wasn’t open yet, the employees were just starting to set up ropes. Next to the house was a nice little bar so we sat there watching the setup, and I don’t think the house opened before 7:30pm honestly, and this event only runs until midnight. We did walk through a scare zone before getting ot the house and the bar and I only know that because a sign told me so. It consisted of like 2 of those pop up tents you setup in your backyard when having a cookout and there is rain in the forecast. Oh and a little bit of some fog from small fog machines and 2 or 3 scareactors which didn’t have the best costumes. I was stunned, I have seen better in home displays honestly.
By the end I will tell you this. None of the houses impressed us, none of them. The shows on the other hand were phenomenal! I couldn’t believe how good they were! Also being such a different size venue, it was super easy to go in and out of a show. So my real advice to anyone if your looking to try something new. Buy the cheapest ticket to the event, and just go enjoy the shows and have some drinks. Had that been our plan, I would not have been disappointed, in fact the opposite. But don’t take my word for it, a lot of locals seem to really enjoy the event, it just didn’t work for me.
We finished the night, but Ubered to Aventura instead of our hotel. I just wanted their quick to go pizza because we were hungry. We took those back to Sapphire and called it a night.
Sunday 10/18
On this Sunday morning, we went back to the parks for yet even more shopping. The deals by now for HHN merch were like 50% off and I had my AP discount on top of that, so we did much more than usual for shopping. We also got a couple of rides in and then we all hit up NBC Grille to watch the Patriots game. We do this pretty often, our entire family are sports fans so it’s pretty awesome that NBC Grille is there for us. After the game we went back to the room for a recharge and off to our final night of HHN. We did have express this night, and we did all the houses and even spent a little more time in the zones. It was a great time, and express was very efficient again. With the trip report portion pretty much done, let me take this opportunity to provide my final thoughts about the houses and the event. I’ll be extra efficient and talk about them in my ranking order starting with my number 10.
House rankings with commentary
At number 10, unchanged from last visit, was Invasion: Alien Abduction. The house was fine, I think I said it last time, it just didn’t feel like they stuck the landing here. What they proclaimed to do and the execution just weren’t one in the same. I did appreciate a few things here, the vibration effect on the floor was a pretty cool feature. The scenes abducting the goat, and poor grandpa were done well. I just didn’t feel the intensity they were aiming for.
Number 9, falling 2 places from last ranking was Evil Dead Burn. This house falling behind was less about this house and more about a couple of others that grew on me this last trip. The opening scene here was really done well with the car crash and the animatronic deadite head. Bravo on that and it was still working out there so close to the crowds which was a feat unto itself.
Coming in at number 8, Madlands: Caged Animals. This was and stayed number 8 for me. The costumes were unique and top tier, the concept was great and some of the special effects were amazing but in the end was just to chaotic for me to fall in love with it. No cohesion or flow and too little separation between the different sections of the zoo. Had a great time each and every run but noticeably vague compared to some of the other houses.
Stranger Things 5, moved up for me from number 9 to number 7. As I got more runs and noticed that the differences between cast A and B (or even C and D I guess since this was an early open house) meant the difference between which characters you would actually see in the house. This house may have done even better if they had just included all of the characters in both casts. Bravo none the less, you improved and I will miss the entire property, big big fan.
Number 6, Sinners, which actually dropped from my previous trip from number 5. As I said from the beginning, the casting was great but maybe the story in the end just didn’t lend itself to being a house. I wish I could have seen Hollywood’s version, I heard it was better. But the biggest scene the fans wanted, was just portrayed with a small projection.
Cybergoria, fell from number 5 to my number 6. I know the majority are really enjoying the house, but it just felt repetitive to me and I wasn’t feeling that escalation of the story like everyone else is. My daughter feels very differently about this house than I did. In fact it does seem like I’m the only one who is missing it, but none the less, since I am the one providing the ranking, here you go, its my number 6.
Hellraiser at number 4. I did have this previously at number 3 but I still love this house, just one other house won me over a little bit more. The scale, the costumes, the lighting were all on point. I loved the maze they created where the same scareactor can get you repeatedly. The concept was creative and complicated. I wonder how long it took them just for the layout, I bet it took quite some time. We opened the box, they came.
House number 3, previously moving up from the number 4 spot, H.R. Bloodengutz Presents a Halloween Fright-Tacular. This house is just pure bliss and nostalgia. I will forever remember the tiki bar scene. The house features great story telling from the get go, with the narration from the queue. This house has so much history not just in its own story, but there has to be little doubt it also spawned the Slaughter Cinema houses as well. Bravo.
My number 2 & number 1 houses, haven’t changed at all. At number 2 I have Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos and Control. This was a technological marvel. So many different types of effects, practical, projection, lighting, you name it they did it. We got to see that wonderful hypnotic tunnel that had disappeared for quite a few years now. On top of all those good effects, we have 2 iconic characters. I am definitely team chaos personally, but it was a wonderful experience seeing the Oddfellow story fleshed out and of course seeing Jack Schmidt before we had Jack.
Number 1 for me of course was Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness. I can acknowledge the criticism that the house was short, but it wasn’t so short that I would knock any points off. The music all hit, the character portrayals were amazing, the brilliant way to present us with a crazy train, all were top tier. We even had a bungee effect. The final scene is what I will carry with me going forward. It was so emotional to see him in that chair seeing him say one last time, I love you all. Thank you Universal Creative for giving us this wonderful tribute.
After completing the houses, we returned to our room. This was the last hurrah so to speak as we would spend our morning packing and heading to MCO for our flight.
Before we wrap this up and end our coverage for HHN until HHN 36, let me briefly add some final thoughts about some of the things done this year, lets start with the new Stay & Scream process. It was way better than I thought it would be that is for sure. It proved quite useful, a way to definitely get a real jump on the houses. The event has grown so much and this helps people with one day get quite a bit more out of it. Worst case scenario you should be able to get 3 houses done prior to the official start of the event. That is the worst case, I think its perfectly realistic to say you can get all 5 done by that time, but you will have to invest some real wait time prior to the 6:30pm start. I hope they bring it back next year in the same form.
Thoughts about express
My closing thoughts on express pass. Outside of opening weekend, I thought it was great. I was not there for the Sunday night before labor day which I heard was also kind of a night mare, but you have to understand it was significantly worse for the non express guests as well. Overall I felt my time was quicker to the merge this year than years past once we get rid of those particular nights I mentioned.
Hotel guests entrance
I don’t think I had mentioned it, but the on site guest entrance was a super time saver. It was by the exit and if you were coming in between 6:30pm and 8:00pm it was a significant time saver. We witnessed hoards of people waiting in the regular lines while we pretty much walked right in during prime time.
HHN 36?
Next year, HHN 36, Halloween is actually on a Sunday night. I would imagine that will be closing weekend although I wouldn’t be stunned if they didn’t ride it out one more weekend and close November 7. I also can’t imagine a scenario where they back off from losing some event days because Labor Day is late again next year, the 6th instead of the 7th like this year. I have to think they again start a week prior to labor day and maybe even as labor day moves closer to the 1st, they just stick with going the week before. So my best guess would be an August 26th premiere night, followed by an August 27th opening night and a closing night of, well, ok locking in October 31st. November 7th just feels to late.