Happy Thursday! It's time for a NOT-SO-SCARY-HALLOWEEN-NOT-HORROR-NIGHTS report! But first a little bit about my next trip coming up in about a month 
You all know I think that when I go in October it's for work, which means it'll be interesting but fo
r the most part not as fun as most trips. And like all work "conferences" (ours are called FAMS for Familiarization trips) our schedule is pretty much set out for us with very little down time. Therefore my park time will be limited to MNSSHP on the 24th - anyone going??- a few hours somewhere in the evening on the 27th, probably AK but maybe EPCOT, and then the coolest part:
I GET TO DO A VIP TOUR ON THE 28TH!!!!
Our agency was given 2 tours after our FAM officially ends. With one spot going to our owner that meant 19 available spots for about 40 agents who were staying after the FAM/live in the area, so a contest was held every day for 19 days to award those spots. My good friend/fellow TA/travel wife Cathy got the spot on the 2nd day but I didn't get in until day 17! I am so excited for this especially since I missed out on the VIP EPIC Trip tours back in May Our owner is pretty much making the tour schedule with a little input from us but all I know right now is that we're probably doing 3 parks (skipping MK) and ending in Epcot to get the VIP seating that comes with the tour for the new night show 
Again nothing written in stone yet and she's talking about starting the tour at either noon or 2pm; either way I can't wait! It also means I had to extend my trip another night since she's starting it later in the day so now I'm away 6 nights, the longest I'll be away from the boys AND Steve. That's what I know so far other than that we're touring all the WDW resorts as well as the GN ones!
Now for what some of you have been waiting for.........................................
A NOT-SO-SCARY-HALLOWEEN-NOT-HORROR-NIGHTS REPORT!
I've wanted to go to HHN for a few years now but Steve never wanted to leave Disney for it - yes, I'm serious HE'S the one who didn't want to leave the bubble for Universal! This year he finally showed interest so we got all set to go on 9/15. After having the GF booked for our whole trip and talking things out he - yes HE - also decided we should stay on Uni property after the party so we booked a night at the Hard Rock. This would be my first stay there and Steve's first at any Uni resort.
One cool thing about the HRH is that it's the closest to CityWalk, so we walked over to the party and entered about 6:20. We had Express Pass and I honestly will never EVER do the party without it; it's expensive but SO worth it! It was HOT and the lines for the popular houses would get up to 60-90 minutes. The people in the lines were crammed together and just looking at them made me sweat in places nobody should. Not only that but whoever designs the layout for HHN either gets stoned beforehand or is a cruel, cruel person because regardless of what house you exit the walk back to civilization - or at least the entrance to the nearest house - takes forever. If you've been you know what I'm talking about and if you' haven't been and you go - you'll find out! The other days this trip that we were at Disney we averaged 7-9.5 miles a day while during HHN alone we did 13 miles!
We started out with some houses since there are 10 and even reports from people with EP didn't say they were doing all 10 so I was afraid we wouldn't be able to get them all done. Well FYI between 6:30 and midnight we did all 10 houses, all 6 scare zones, both shows, and ate twice lol. EP was a lifesaver!
Some pictures of the outside of a few houses:
Depths of Fear:
Classic Monsters
Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses which ended up being my favorite!
See how the Classic Monsters is basically a soundstage with the pictures painted on or whatever? That's what the majority of the houses were except with nothing on the outside; just a plain soundstage you walked in. These others with an actual display outside were the exception and more of what I thought they'd all be like. Here's kind of where HHN wasn't what I thought it would be: I didn't think all the houses would be the same. Not sure what I thought really lol but I did expect "something" on the outside that related to what was inside. The detailing inside each house was absolutely amazing which leads to another peeve I had but I'll get to that; not sure why they didn't do more to the outsides but it was disappointing to me.
NIghtingales: Blood Pit
*as we were walking in we walked by 2 girls who had just come out and they told us it was the worst house: I disagree. I really liked the outside and the inside was super cool as well
Here's the deal with the houses from my POV. They aren't scary
Yes if you don't like jump scares then you probably won't like this and if you don't like seeing anything resembling blood/gore you won't like it either. The houses.............were neat. I mentioned a pet peeve and it was that the TM's rushed us through the houses and I really would have liked to be able to look at the detail a bit more! The insides were truly amazing as far as the detail and thought and design that went in to them; they fit the theme they were supposed to to a T. Dracula's section in Classic Monsters and pretty much all of Graveyard Games stand out as areas I wanted to really look at what they did but you had to move so fast you couldn't. The TM's inside the housese were constantly flailing their hands at you telling you to move along .
The houses that were after movies put you in the movie and the Universal originals were also great. House of 1000 Corpses was my fave inside. It's also the only one I thought I might get scared in so I started out holding Steve's hand even though it was like the 6th house we'd done but soon let go lol. The music added to the fun there! Overall the only real "scares" were the actors jumping out at you but keep in mind they aren't allowed to touch you. Thing is after a couple houses you pretty much could figure out where in the house they'd be! Around corners, jumping out of open "windows", anywhere there was a "doorway" with no door and almost anywhere a TM was standing lol.
So I would just expect it and when they jumped out I'd laugh and smile at them which probably pissed them off
I did get "got" once in the Yeti house so that made Steve happy! I also got mad there because there's a scene where a Yeti sticks his arm right through a guy and I had walked by already when he did it so only Steve saw it
Here's the other thing that got me about the houses; they're all the same. Yeah I didn't realize this! Again not sure what I expected but I didn't think they'd be the same- go in, walk through, actors jump out. Exit
So as excited as I was to still see some of the houses we left until the end it was rather monotonous.
Let's go on to the scare zones!
Are you loving me for posting these yet??
This was the viking one and we did it early on so it's light out. We went back around 11:30 and they had a few more scareators out. They kind of follow you around, walk by you and then "boo" in your face so you get startled. I liked the set ups here!
On our way over toward the Simpson's there were more scareators walking around with chainsaws. This was still early on in the night so even though it was light I wasn't sure yet what exactly they'd do; just kept my guard up and looked over my shoulder constantly lol. I don't mind blood and gore but actually jump scares aren't my favorite.
Steve didn't mind getting up close and personal:
Ugh I wish I could figure out a way to do more than 10 photos per post I have so many more to share! I'll continue in next post................
Isn't she also writing a blog about it all, too?!
It happened tho baby it happened! It was just at the end of the night after 11:30 so I wasn't looking my best lol.
Let's begin with a quick picture run through of all my Sept. DISMeets since that's one of the best parts of trips after being on the boards all these years
The crowds were awesome last week. Can’t wait to hear about your trip!
Also I didn't see anyone in a wheelchair or scooter going through the houses and honestly I have no idea how they would! I'm wondering if the houses are in any way handicap accessible and have been meaning to check that out......
haha I considered that when I posted it but the picture won out 
We are planning to go next Sept. with our granddaughter and her parents and are thinking of doing the same week. I've read the crowds have picked up a bit this week so our week must be the breaking point lol
