Official 2022 HHN 31 - Horror is Universal

[tony67]

Tony, I`m sorry you`re going to lose someone in your family. Never an easy time for anyone.

Being honest, this years HHN started out quite positive for us....houses sounded good, scare zones looked decent and food options looked decent too. First couple of nights were good.

Food options we tried were not even remotely like the picture. Nothing stood out as worth waiting in those huge lines for.

After that, we kinda lost interest. It was too busy and that was one of our main complaints, but houses were lacklustre at times (not always) we noticed they were not stopping the lines while the change of SA teams took place which used to happen so you didn`t miss any scares or actors. This year we wandered through several houses on several occasions to missing SA.

The scare zones were set up well and the Graveyard one was particularly good, we did enjoy that when it wasn`t mobbed, so I`m not knocking everything about the event, it just didn`t live up to the hype for us.

The crowds were so bad one night I couldn`t see a single SA in the first scare zone, lost Tom in the crowd twice and honestly, for the first time I just wanted to get out of there.

A couple of nights we were with another couple who hadn`t been for a long time, they were so disappointed. The rain early in the event did keep the crowds at bay, but once the crowds hit.....wow!

We started going to HHN in 2007 but we`ve decided that was our last year going to the event.

We did Howl O Scream this year and LOVED it. Fewer houses, less polished, fewer scare zones and fewer SA....but they made up for it with enthusiasm and downright fun. There were no huge crowds like we saw at HHN this year, and we had a blast.

There are some good things with HHN this year.....Dead Man`s Pier, Halloween and a couple of others. The Dead Coconut Club is a lot of fun, but that shouldn`t have been the highlight of the event and it was one of them for us.

I don`t mean to be a downer, and I`m sure there will be a swathe of folks saying how wonderful it is, and that`s fine, we all see things differently, but for someone who has been a huge long time horror night fan, this year did not live up to the hype. We spoke to so many folks who all think they are selling too many tickets for the event and it needs to be honed in a little, but they won`t as it`s a huge moneymaker of course.

I`ve answered as honestly as I can as you asked a difficult question, and I hope you make the best decision for you.

Thank you.

I know you well - at least as well as you can someone from an online forum - and your feedback is a big help and holds weight - hopefully we will meet some time in Strongwater - I usually there in September same time as you - although I think I may have met Tom in one of my many nights there when he was ordering drinks at the bar - I engage folks at the bar far too often - if you sit next to me at the bar I'm probably going to speak to you or at least try to - especially when there is an Irish or English accent.

I also want to see Lenny again - I'm sure I talk his ear off - but he is a great bartender at Songwater - and the food there is amazing - best in the parks IMO - I am really looking forward to the curry goat and the octopus. Songwater is a big reason I go to Universal and is part of my hotel choices.

I may just scale back to a long weekend - I really want to do SeaWorld - that is so much more fun and adultish like the old HHN.
Last year I did not really enjoy HHN overall - and skipped many nights I could have gone with ROF - but I cut them a lot of slack for last year.

 

[iona]

We’re certainly not experts like Carole & Tom as this was only our third year of HHN (the previous two being 2016 and 2019). However, we’ve also been left with no desire to return, even if a future stay does coincide date wise.

We did enjoy some of the houses (Dead Man’s Pier was beautiful, The Weeknd was fun and had some good jump scares and we’re glad we did Halloween but Halloween II in 2016 was better) but there were far less that we wanted to repeat this year than previously and if I ever have to do Hellblock Horror again it’ll be too soon!

The scare zones were definitely too crowded to be enjoyable and there were just too many kids and too many idiots (although the latter could be a sign of me getting old…).

We enjoyed some of the food and drinks but it probably says a lot that on the last of our three nights we ate at the Today Cafe rather than the booths and then went back to The Thirsty Fish for a drink.

That all sounds very negative - I certainly don’t regret going this year (because we had enjoyed 2016 & 2019 so much) but unlike on those previous occasions I’m not sitting here working out when we’re coming back for HHN and what we’ll do differently next time to make it even better.

 

[shh]

I think cutting down the length of your trip a bit is a wise possibility. Maybe a couple of HHN nights and 1 at Sea World's so you get fun tastes of both without burning out? We've been doing HHN off and on almost since the event began decades ago - I think the disappointment levels are due to a few different things:

• It does get harder and harder to dazzle folks who have gone so many years and seen so much already vs first timers. It's natural that it's going to feel a little less "special" at some point.
• UO needs to step the heck up and require adult supervision of anyone under 18 - enough already! So many complaints this year around hordes of rude, defiant, line cutting, even violent older kids harassing other guests. Most won't act the same way if a parent or guardian is in tow and forced to take responsibility for their actions.
• Tic overselling is definitely eroding the experience. Most people here won't agree, but I'm not a fan of the much cheaper Sept "all you can visit" passes that encourage so many repeat visits. I think it's a bad strategy that is adding to crowd volume. I'd love to see them just sell individual night tics and maybe a limited 5 or 7 multi-night pass w/requirement to choose which nights. This would give UO teams a better sense of attendance on any given night.
• Oct has always been far busier historically: it'll be interesting to see if this year, it's closer to Sept, given Sept's record-breaking volume. I don't think as many locals buy higher priced Oct passes. This year, there are also only 3 choices for premiere passholders to redeem their free nights.

We're doing just one HHN night this year with express (a first time splurge - woo hoo!) vs multiple nights. I still want a "taste", as there's nothing in my area like it and I love halloween. For what it's worth, many people on facebook really enjoyed and continue to rave about their trips.

We'll go with lower expectations, knowing it'll be very crowded. No waiting in hot, crowded S&S corrals this year, no racing around to do houses multiple times. We'll enjoy what we can for the night and move on. I still think I'll have a wonderful evening.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

I guess I'll do the counter point
We loved HHN this year as much as we have any other. No, we are not long time attendees. I'm not the biggest fan of horror and it took me a long time to get the nerve up to go. As PP mentioned, maybe long time attendees are just getting hard to "scare" (which is not the word I want). Nor is impress or please. Dazzle and delight works as well as any I think. Dazzle particularly. Eventually you run out of things to do that are new. That may be where Universal is getting to.
Anyway, there are always houses we love, and houses that are less favorite.
Sometimes those are the houses we think they will be, sometimes they aren't.
There are no houses that I wouldn't do again
Scare zones are just about always my favorite thing. I can sit and watch or walk through them for hours.
Food booths are last on our list of what we go for and if they went away I wouldn't care
This year is no different in any of the above.
I didn't notice crowds to be different. I'll not even count the night we went after reopening following Ian. It was too abnormal. I'm comparing the next night, which was a Saturday night. Yes, it looked very crowded. But it looked no different than any night we've ever gone. It's why we only go with an express pass. If we lived there maybe it would be different. I'd get one of the FF passes and go way more often, then EP wouldn't matter as much. Maybe if we went often we'd share the opinions of those that do go often. No idea. As it is, we only go a few nights and we really like the event this year.
In all the times we've done HHN we've only done S&S once. I just don't find waiting in a corral an improvement vs just entering later and getting in line.
We have done all houses, scare zones and the show twice now. It's the first time we've ever repeated houses. Except the year they did daytime houses. I wasn't sure about how I'd like doing that since I'm so iffy on them period. Turned out I like it. I found I felt I was able to look around a bit more the 2nd time, less apprehensive I think.
I haven't changed my mind about going back for Halloween night. We even bought EP to make sure we get in all the houses that night too. I'm seriously thinking I want to get a 4th night but I'm holding off for now. We'll be traveling down that day and may wait till that day and buy the ticket once we see how we feel.

 

[schumigirl]

Thank you.

I know you well - at least as well as you can someone from an online forum - and your feedback is a big help and holds weight - hopefully we will meet some time in Strongwater - I usually there in September same time as you - although I think I may have met Tom in one of my many nights there when he was ordering drinks at the bar - I engage folks at the bar far too often - if you sit next to me at the bar I'm probably going to speak to you or at least try to - especially when there is an Irish or English accent.

I also want to see Lenny again - I'm sure I talk his ear off - but he is a great bartender at Songwater - and the food there is amazing - best in the parks IMO - I am really looking forward to the curry goat and the octopus. Songwater is a big reason I go to Universal and is part of my hotel choices.

I may just scale back to a long weekend - I really want to do SeaWorld - that is so much more fun and adultish like the old HHN.
Last year I did not really enjoy HHN overall - and skipped many nights I could have gone with ROF - but I cut them a lot of slack for last year.

Thank you, I appreciate that.

Oh you should have said hi the night you saw Tom......and Lenny works Thursday and Friday`s in Strong Water. Yes, he is fabulous, Anthony is also a fabulous Rum Captain though, his knowledge has genuinely impressed us a lot.

Hope you like the Scottish accent too.......

We’re certainly not experts like Carole & Tom as this was only our third year of HHN (the previous two being 2016 and 2019). However, we’ve also been left with no desire to return, even if a future stay does coincide date wise.

We did enjoy some of the houses (Dead Man’s Pier was beautiful, The Weeknd was fun and had some good jump scares and we’re glad we did Halloween but Halloween II in 2016 was better) but there were far less that we wanted to repeat this year than previously and if I ever have to do Hellblock Horror again it’ll be too soon!

The scare zones were definitely too crowded to be enjoyable and there were just too many kids and too many idiots (although the latter could be a sign of me getting old…).

We enjoyed some of the food and drinks but it probably says a lot that on the last of our three nights we ate at the Today Cafe rather than the booths and then went back to The Thirsty Fish for a drink.

That all sounds very negative - I certainly don’t regret going this year (because we had enjoyed 2016 & 2019 so much) but unlike on those previous occasions I’m not sitting here working out when we’re coming back for HHN and what we’ll do differently next time to make it even better.

That`s a shame, I know what you mean though. We would be thinking of the next HHN before this years had even finished, but....not this year.

Yes, it wasn`t always dreadful and I don`t think we`re too hard to please.......nor am I hard to scare as many who know me will agree with........but this was just a huge miss for us and many folks we know too...including TM and SA too.

I think cutting down the length of your trip a bit is a wise possibility. Maybe a couple of HHN nights and 1 at Sea World's so you get fun tastes of both without burning out? We've been doing HHN off and on almost since the event began decades ago - I think the disappointment levels are due to a few different things:

• It does get harder and harder to dazzle folks who have gone so many years and seen so much already vs first timers. It's natural that it's going to feel a little less "special" at some point.
• UO needs to step the heck up and require adult supervision of anyone under 18 - enough already! So many complaints this year around hordes of rude, defiant, line cutting, even violent older kids harassing other guests. Most won't act the same way if a parent or guardian is in tow and forced to take responsibility for their actions.
• Tic overselling is definitely eroding the experience. Most people here won't agree, but I'm not a fan of the much cheaper Sept "all you can visit" passes that encourage so many repeat visits. I think it's a bad strategy that is adding to crowd volume. I'd love to see them just sell individual night tics and maybe a limited 5 or 7 multi-night pass w/requirement to choose which nights. This would give UO teams a better sense of attendance on any given night.
• Oct has always been far busier historically: it'll be interesting to see if this year, it's closer to Sept, given Sept's record-breaking volume. I don't think as many locals buy higher priced Oct passes. This year, there are also only 3 choices for premiere passholders to redeem their free nights.

We're doing just one HHN night this year with express (a first time splurge - woo hoo!) vs multiple nights. I still want a "taste", as there's nothing in my area like it and I love halloween. For what it's worth, many people on facebook really enjoyed and continue to rave about their trips.

We'll go with lower expectations, knowing it'll be very crowded. No waiting in hot, crowded S&S corrals this year, no racing around to do houses multiple times. We'll enjoy what we can for the night and move on. I still think I'll have a wonderful evening.

I do hope you enjoy your night with EP. Yes, many folks have mentioned the much larger crowds this year including SA we are friends with who have all spoke about busier than usual crowds.

I agree with the teen issue, they do need to control.....we didn`t see as much of that this year, I think we were lucky, but the strollers and toddler issue needs to be addressed.

I should add for clarity, we never do Stay and Scream and only ever have Rush of Fear with Express Pass.....would NEVER do the event without EP.

One night the Express line for Halloween was over 45 minutes.....thats not Express in any world.

Mike Aiello even said Howl O Scream was excellent and was what HHN used to be before it got so huge.



But, this wasn`t meant to be a debate, a question was asked, I hope Tony67 makes the right decision for him.

 

[shh]

Mike Aiello even said Howl O Scream was excellent and was what HHN used to be before it got so huge.

I definitely enjoyed HOS last year during its inaugural year. We're skipping this year, as this is a short trip, but planning on revisiting in 2023.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I do think this year is not as good as others, subjective opinion of course.

I've been going since 2015 and only missed one year. Never have a I had a year where I said....oh, I miss the previous year. Except that is the way I feel this time.

There are some really good houses, and I've had a lot of fun moments. However, this year just isn't doing it for me.

I also think crowds have actually been letting up, Sept was unbearable even in stay and scream. I've had much better experiences lately crowd wise.

 

[tony67]

Howl O Scream was excellent and was what HHN used to be before it got so huge.

100% this - no questions - its what I do miss - when you watch videos from 5 to 10 years ago and see what it was its night and day




Thanks all - I think I get the bigger picture here and it help a lot to make the choices - now I have to talk with UNI about my 3 house and 6 house tours and options to cancel.

 

[schumigirl]

100% this - no questions - its what a do miss - when you watch videos from 5 to 10 years ago and see what it was its night and day




Thanks all - I think I get the bigger picture here and it help a lot to make the choices - now I have to talk with UNI about my 3 house and 6 house tours and options to cancel.

I’m sure they’ll work with you with any changes you may have to make, you know how good they are with customer service.

Yes, it is like night and day from years ago.

 

[Greg36]

Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences on this thread. My daughter and I are attending this event on Thursday Oct 20th. We have never been to universal but both love scary movies. We are really excited about this event. Just for context, we have scream early tickets and express. We have been trying to decide which holding area to enter. We are between the simpsons area and NY. The houses we are most excited for are Halloween, Monsters, Dead man, and the Weekend. Our strategy was to try and do two houses first without express (either Halloween/Dead man or Weekend/Monsters). We have been leaning towards starting in NY but I have been reading that this is really busy and may have some really long waits early on. Does anyone have any advice on which of these locations might be a better starting place? Thanks again, Greg

 

[MinnieMSue]

Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences on this thread. My daughter and I are attending this event on Thursday Oct 20th. We have never been to universal but both love scary movies. We are really excited about this event. Just for context, we have scream early tickets and express. We have been trying to decide which holding area to enter. We are between the simpsons area and NY. The houses we are most excited for are Halloween, Monsters, Dead man, and the Weekend. Our strategy was to try and do two houses first without express (either Halloween/Dead man or Weekend/Monsters). We have been leaning towards starting in NY but I have been reading that this is really busy and may have some really long waits early on. Does anyone have any advice on which of these locations might be a better starting place? Thanks again, Greg

this is literally what we are trying to decide ourselves. I think we will do it one way one night and the other the next depending on how it works. I am so undecided as to what I want to do. I don't really want to be in any halloween chaos that I have read can happen. Last year we did simpsons area and hit the houses where the monsters and weekend are now pretty quickly. But things are different this year so...idk

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences on this thread. My daughter and I are attending this event on Thursday Oct 20th. We have never been to universal but both love scary movies. We are really excited about this event. Just for context, we have scream early tickets and express. We have been trying to decide which holding area to enter. We are between the simpsons area and NY. The houses we are most excited for are Halloween, Monsters, Dead man, and the Weekend. Our strategy was to try and do two houses first without express (either Halloween/Dead man or Weekend/Monsters). We have been leaning towards starting in NY but I have been reading that this is really busy and may have some really long waits early on. Does anyone have any advice on which of these locations might be a better starting place? Thanks again, Greg

If you are in stay and scream line for Halloween super early you can do that one, and I am talking like 4 pm. If you don't want to line up that early, I would do stay and scream for Hellblock, then join the line for Coven, then get in line immediately for Dead Man's.

If you can get to the Monsters/Weeknd area right at 6 you can beat the crowds. If you do, I would do Weeknd first then Monsters. It all depends on how quickly you can get through Dead Man's.

You have to keep in mind what time the houses open (sometimes they can open late).

5:15
Hellblock
Halloween

5:30
Coven

5:45
Legends
Weeknd
Blumhouse

6
Chupacabra
Dead Man's Pier
Bugs
Destruction

 

[Greg36]

If you are in stay and scream line for Halloween super early you can do that one, and I am talking like 4 pm. If you don't want to line up that early, I would do stay and scream for Hellblock, then join the line for Coven, then get in line immediately for Dead Man's.

If you can get to the Monsters/Weeknd area right at 6 you can beat the crowds. If you do, I would do Weeknd first then Monsters. It all depends on how quickly you can get through Dead Man's.

You have to keep in mind what time the houses open (sometimes they can open late).

5:15
Hellblock
Halloween

5:30
Coven

5:45
Legends
Weeknd
Blumhouse

6
Chupacabra
Dead Man's Pier
Bugs
Destruction

This is great info. Thanks for posting it

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

This is great info. Thanks for posting it

If you go back a few pages I have done a lot of stay and scream strategies in case you want to see what worked or didn't for me.

 

[keishashadow]

You have to keep in mind what time the houses open (sometimes they can open late).

Absolutely. Great recap above btw!

I was shocked how long it could take if Halloween isn’t opened until after 5:30 pm.

we also experienced one evening when the unofficial line @ S&S was cut by the crowd for Halloween. haven’t seen any reports of that afterwards though…maybe they put more TMs into place??? Please

on one busy night we were able to do Coven (hellblock already had long line posted) then Dead Mans Pier, then walking over to bugs before starting to use EP.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Is there a particular reason you wait to use the EP? Why not just use it from the get go?

 

[imprint]

Is there a particular reason you wait to use the EP? Why not just use it from the get go?

Some suggest that if you Stay and Scream, you can use standby first and return later with Express Pass. Good strategy if you plan to run those houses the same night. If you’re talking about Halloween house, unless you are set on going there twice in one night, I highly recommend using Exoress there right away. You’ll get it done and be on your way to see more houses (or at least queue up for another house) before the general tickets get in. Halloween gets clogged up quick.

Edit: it’s Sunday night at 1:00 am and Halloween is still the longest wait. I’d recommend getting it done early with Express if you have it.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Some suggest that if you Stay and Scream, you can use standby first and return later with Express Pass. Good strategy if you plan to run those houses the same night. If you’re talking about Halloween house, unless you are set on going there twice in one night, I highly recommend using Exoress there right away. You’ll get it done and be on your way to see more houses (or at least queue up for another house) before the general tickets get in. Halloween gets clogged up quick.

Edit: it’s Sunday night at 1:00 am and Halloween is still the longest wait. I’d recommend getting it done early with Express if you have it.

I never think about doing a house twice in a night. Makes sense to wait to use it in that case.

 

[keishashadow]

I never think about doing a house twice in a night. Makes sense to wait to use it in that case.

That’s what this thread is designed to do, share tips and be informative.

especially helpful for those who are new to the haunt

 

[keishashadow]

If you’re talking about Halloween house, unless you are set on going there twice in one night, I highly recommend using Exoress there right away. You’ll get it done and be on your way to see more houses (or at least queue up for another house) before the general tickets get in

yes, you really don’t want to start out your S&S waiting 70 min in that line. defeats the whole idea of coming in early

I’ll toss the Weekend into that category too, astounded how long that line was this year. Can’t remember seeing them use the first part of this year’s queue in the past