Official 2019 HHN-29 Thread

I am VERY psyched for this latest house announcement. It kind of sounds like Seeds from last year, but under water. Seeds was my surprise #2 house last year behind Slaughter Sinema, so I can't wait to see this one!
I felt Seeds got better the later the week went on. We went the second week, and by Sunday I thought there were a lot more elements to it.
Loved Slaugter Sinema too!
 
There are four houses revealed, and I am already sold on this year. Stranger Things Seasons 2-3 (we loved the house from last year), Universal Monsters (we loved the house a few years ago, and we are stoked for this one), Nightingales Blood Pit (we were not there for the original Nightingales, but it was well received and we are looking forward to it), and Depths of Fear (if it is indeed similar to Seeds of Extinction from last year, we will love it). On top of that, there are still six more houses and all four scare zones. Come on, please, this will be another great year. I assume the show will be AoV, and we might watch it, or we might skip it. Either way, we can't wait to get there and enjoy the sights and sounds we love. I'm looking forward to the FF+EP being released in a few weeks, so we can have everything booked and ready to go. Finally, I hope they offer the unlimited HHN Freestyle cup like last year. That saved us so much money. I like to enjoy a few adult beverages, but we (my wife, daughter, and I) can all share the Freestyle refills throughout each night for quick refreshment. Less than four months and reviews will start rolling in. Blerg, I cannot wait!
 


There are four houses revealed, and I am already sold on this year. Stranger Things Seasons 2-3 (we loved the house from last year), Universal Monsters (we loved the house a few years ago, and we are stoked for this one), Nightingales Blood Pit (we were not there for the original Nightingales, but it was well received and we are looking forward to it), and Depths of Fear (if it is indeed similar to Seeds of Extinction from last year, we will love it). On top of that, there are still six more houses and all four scare zones. Come on, please, this will be another great year. I assume the show will be AoV, and we might watch it, or we might skip it. Either way, we can't wait to get there and enjoy the sights and sounds we love. I'm looking forward to the FF+EP being released in a few weeks, so we can have everything booked and ready to go. Finally, I hope they offer the unlimited HHN Freestyle cup like last year. That saved us so much money. I like to enjoy a few adult beverages, but we (my wife, daughter, and I) can all share the Freestyle refills throughout each night for quick refreshment. Less than four months and reviews will start rolling in. Blerg, I cannot wait!

Sooooo...you’re excited?:P

I’m slowly getting there. Always has been a fun time thus far, even years when the houses didn’t quite speak to me I still love hanging out with my friends & family.
As long as they don’t dumb the past overall scare factor down to appeal to the masses:banana:, i’m good.
 
Thinking about going to HHN with wife and son on November 1st or 2nd or both. How crowded will it be? I am assuming I would need express passes so about how much would it cost? It seems like it may be very expensive like more than its going to cost me to take my family to seaworld!?!?

We attended last year on 10/28, 10/31, 11/1 and 11/2 and the post-Halloween days were pretty much just as crowded as the other two days.
 


I don't think we'll do the Scareactor dining again because it was so chaotic but here's some of my favorite moments from last year:

View attachment 405383View attachment 405384


Nice pics!

Curious ‘when’ in the season you had your reservation.

I agree with your assessment it was a mess as to their staging from start to finish. Their crowd control to enter the restaurant & seating protocol were glaringly very ineffective when we were there, pre Columbus Day last year.

Considering what we’ve experienced dining at Monsters in the past, the food was far better than expected.

I wish they offered a few different ‘roles’, but the scare actors were awesome, their pacing was decidedly not. that I attribute to a fail by the handlers & management. It’s great to have more time & interaction at a character meal when at the Universal parks. Unfortunately, they didn’t take into account guests wanted to both meet all the scareactors & take advantage of the early release to the houses. IMO they need to start the meal earlier or reduce the number of filler scareactors.

Puzzling that they didn’t seem to be following any sort of pattern when we were there...often skipping tables entirely or being summoned to another section before completing the section they were visiting.

Hope they will continue to evolve this offering and hit it out of the park this year.
 
Nice pics!

Curious ‘when’ in the season you had your reservation.

I agree with your assessment it was a mess as to their staging from start to finish. Their crowd control to enter the restaurant & seating protocol were glaringly very ineffective when we were there, pre Columbus Day last year.

Considering what we’ve experienced dining at Monsters in the past, the food was far better than expected.

I wish they offered a few different ‘roles’, but the scare actors were awesome, their pacing was decidedly not. that I attribute to a fail by the handlers & management. It’s great to have more time & interaction at a character meal when at the Universal parks. Unfortunately, they didn’t take into account guests wanted to both meet all the scareactors & take advantage of the early release to the houses. IMO they need to start the meal earlier or reduce the number of filler scareactors.

Puzzling that they didn’t seem to be following any sort of pattern when we were there...often skipping tables entirely or being summoned to another section before completing the section they were visiting.

Hope they will continue to evolve this offering and hit it out of the park this year.

Thank you!

We were there on 10/28. It was strange to me how many TMs seemed confused by so many parts of the process since it was so late in the season. We got to the side entrance early since we had the 5 pm seating and were planning to take advantage of the early house entry. When we got there, I said that we were there for the scareactor dining and that I knew that we were early. The TM at the entrance told me in no uncertain terms that I was in the wrong place and told me to try to the Blue Man Group ticket window. :confused3 Since I knew we were in the right place, we hung out in the area, with the TM awkwardly staring at us like we were gonna stage a hostile takeover. Eventually another group showed up and he called another employee who was able to check us in and walked us over to the restaurant a few minutes after 4:30.

Like you said, the check-in process at the restaurant was very ineffective. They were checking everyone in regardless of seating time and attempting to sort and color code people but they didn't have enough colors for all the time slots which seemed to cause chaos. There was a very nice TM at the door entertaining us while we were waiting and he asked people to raise their hands if we wanted to try to go to Stranger Things early. A handful of groups raised their hands and he told us we'd have to meet a manager at the entrance at 5:30 to beat the holding areas. We asked if we could come back to the meal after the house since that was only a half-hour window to eat and see the actors. He called another employee over to ask and he said yes but only to meet the actors, not to eat. Sounded strange but ok.

By the time we got food and sat, we had only met one scaractor and eaten a few bites of food before it was 5:30. We told one of the servers (hostesses? not sure what to call them lol) in the area what we were doing and asked if it would be possible to just return to our same table and food since it seemed so wasteful to barely eat anything and were told no. I get why it's not an option to some extent but all the tables were never full either so it seemed like that would've been a less complicated option. A manager came to walk us across to Stranger Things who was nice but when we asked the process for coming back after going through the house, he looked at us and told us that wasn't an option. When we said we had been told it was by another TM, he said they'd make an exception. :confused3 At the entrance of the house, they told the manager he walked us across too soon but we could stand there and wait if we promised not to wander. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Surprise- we got back to the restaurant entrance and they had no idea what to do with us. The manager who just walked us across the street apparently fell into a black hole and couldn't be located. 3 TMs and a new manager later and me telling my spiel of what happened 900 times, finally we were just sent back into the restaurant as though we were being seated for the first time.

So we got new plates of food, sat at a new table and started over. In the end, we enjoyed the food and had fun interacting with the characters. There was one we never did get to see because they didn't come to our table and we got tired of waiting.

I agree- I hope they evolve it because we really did have a good time in the end but it wasn't worth all the chaos. I don't remember what time the last seating was but I think if we were gonna do it again, we'd do maybe the latest seating and do stay and scream and hit one or two houses before starting our meal and then maybe it wouldn't be so chaotic?
 
Since I knew we were in the right place, we hung out in the area, with the TM awkwardly staring at us like we were gonna stage a hostile takeover. Eventually another group showed up and he called another employee who was able to check us in and walked us over to the restaurant a few minutes after 4:30.
Lol pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. Had hoped things would’ve improved as the season commenced.

Not sure if it’s a case of not having a plan in place or just poor training of employees (whether seasonal part-timers or not) but it’s a black spot on something that could truly enhance the event
 
This is our first year at HHN and we will be staying Tues Sept 17-Sun Sept 22, so 4 nights of HHN total. We can’t decide which ticket to buy the BOGO and 1-2 nights regular price (possibly military if they sell them at a discount) or bank on the Rush of Fear extending out through our dates. My question is since the event starts so early this year do you guys expect the Rush of Fear to extend through Sept 22nd? From past pricing the ROF pass would be a much better deal, but I’m worried it won’t last through our weekend since before it was 10 nights which is short of our entire stay. Any info would be great from all the veterans. TIA!
 
This is our first year at HHN and we will be staying Tues Sept 17-Sun Sept 22, so 4 nights of HHN total. We can’t decide which ticket to buy the BOGO and 1-2 nights regular price (possibly military if they sell them at a discount) or bank on the Rush of Fear extending out through our dates. My question is since the event starts so early this year do you guys expect the Rush of Fear to extend through Sept 22nd? From past pricing the ROF pass would be a much better deal, but I’m worried it won’t last through our weekend since before it was 10 nights which is short of our entire stay. Any info would be great from all the veterans. TIA!

This year is an unknown yet with regards to ROF......we always buy that, but do wonder what will be on offer this year.

We have had several questionnaires over the last year about pricing structures and such.....so it`s a wait and see for most right now......



OK......We ready for another update and another house!!!!!!! ::yes::
 
This year is an unknown yet with regards to ROF......we always buy that, but do wonder what will be on offer this year.

We have had several questionnaires over the last year about pricing structures and such.....so it`s a wait and see for most right now......



OK......We ready for another update and another house!!!!!!! ::yes::

I'm ready for more ticket options and the packages to be rolled out. Seems later than normal for these not to be available yet, but maybe not. I often get my time frames confused.
 
Bought our BOGO tix this evening :banana:

I'm ready for more ticket options and the packages to be rolled out. Seems later than normal for these not to be available yet, but maybe not. I often get my time frames confused.

Last year the multiday tix options not released until after the BOGO day free tix offer was expired. If curious as to exact date/timing...if I didn’t date stamp it on first page of last year’s thread, then release date should be referenced in the posts

As carole stated above, the surveys were rather ahem interesting as to new tix options. We decided to go with a sure thing and will add on another day if needed. Worst case can always upgrade them at the gate if a tix is released that suits us better. Nice they offer that flexibility.
 
Bought our BOGO tix this evening :banana:



Last year the multiday tix options not released until after the BOGO day free tix offer was expired. If curious as to exact date/timing...if I didn’t date stamp it on first page of last year’s thread, then release date should be referenced in the posts

As carole stated above, the surveys were rather ahem interesting as to new tix options. We decided to go with a sure thing and will add on another day if needed. Worst case can always upgrade them at the gate if a tix is released that suits us better. Nice they offer that flexibility.

I believe the BOGO ended and the rest of the tickets/packages were released about the same exact time last year. I bought my private RIP tour on the first day that they became available to APs, which was a day or 2 after the BOGO ended. I got my email on 6/12, which was about a week after I actually bought the tour over the phone. So, I think it's the same time. I bought the BOGO last year on 6/5, which was one of the last dates to buy it.
 
This is our first year at HHN and we will be staying Tues Sept 17-Sun Sept 22, so 4 nights of HHN total. We can’t decide which ticket to buy the BOGO and 1-2 nights regular price (possibly military if they sell them at a discount) or bank on the Rush of Fear extending out through our dates. My question is since the event starts so early this year do you guys expect the Rush of Fear to extend through Sept 22nd? From past pricing the ROF pass would be a much better deal, but I’m worried it won’t last through our weekend since before it was 10 nights which is short of our entire stay. Any info would be great from all the veterans. TIA!

Although I am envious of your dates (we must go a few weeks later), I would be fretting just like you are. The traditional RoF (with EP!) is the best deal for HHN, as you know. They really should have offered the RoF and FF options at the same time as the BOGO. I don't know what I would do either. I hope it works out for you, though!
 
Although I am envious of your dates (we must go a few weeks later), I would be fretting just like you are. The traditional RoF (with EP!) is the best deal for HHN, as you know. They really should have offered the RoF and FF options at the same time as the BOGO. I don't know what I would do either. I hope it works out for you, though!

IMO they are very smart to offer an early, 2 day tix at such a bargin price (less than 1 day for halloween events elsewhere). Factor in they include pricier Fridays - woot!

Past years the multi day didn’t work to cover Friday and I’d find myself often buying an additional one day tix on top of it.

It is a good hook to entice the first timers or casual visitors & lock them down. Even locals who may have become disenfranchised are likely tempted to return early, view the houses, then decide if they will be frequent visitors that season.

It’s a win, win overall for guests as the the park tix have traditionally been upgradeable at the gate. It’s easy enough to flip to a pricer tix/more dates when you arrive.

I’ve never seen the gate sell out for a particular date but haven’t watched to see Halloween has followed suit.
 
IMO they are very smart to offer an early, 2 day tix at such a bargin price (less than 1 day for halloween events elsewhere). Factor in they include pricier Fridays - woot!

Past years the multi day didn’t work to cover Friday and I’d find myself often buying an additional one day tix on top of it.

It is a good hook to entice the first timers or casual visitors & lock them down. Even locals who may have become disenfranchised are likely tempted to return early, view the houses, then decide if they will be frequent visitors that season.

It’s a win, win overall for guests as the the park tix have traditionally been upgradeable at the gate. It’s easy enough to flip to a pricer tix/more dates when you arrive.

I’ve never seen the gate sell out for a particular date but haven’t watched to see Halloween has followed suit.

Didn't they sell out a lot last year?
 
The BOGO is what sucked me in for 2 nights. And now they're going to at least one RIP tour out of that deal and likely an EP on the other night.

I'm a first timer so if it hadn't been for the BOGO then they would have only gotten one night out of me. Seems like a no brainer if they don't typically sell out on early Oct Thu/Fri nights.
 

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