Touchdown’s 13 Nights of Halloween 2024

Introduction

Greetings Foolish Mortals and welcome to my, with a few exceptions, absolute favorite time to visit parks. The summer heat is gone, we get a lot more opportunities to do night rides (thanks to later hours and earlier sunsets) and you get all the added seasonal entertainment with houses, scare zones and shows. This year thanks to having to work extra this past spring I had the time and money to do additional more trips then I’ve ever done. In the next month and a half I will visit 6 different park’s Halloween events. How I get to 13 nights is how many nights I’ll be attending each of them (I repeat some):
-Cedar Point Halloweekends (3)
-Universal Orlando HHN (5)
-MK Not So Scary (1)
-Universal Hollywood HHN (1)
-DCA Oogie Boogie Bash (2)
-Knotts Scary Farm Halloween Haunt (1)

In addition I’ll be spending the day of the events at all these parks during normal ops (except MK, but I will be “rope dropping” the party at 4pm) as well as 3 additional non HHN days at Universal Orlando and 4 non OBB days at DLR. Ok enough with the introduction, it’s time to break out the black t-shirts, blast some heavy metal/horror movie main themes/dark musical soundtracks and Halloween Pop Classics and hit the spooky shores of Lake Erie:

Part 1 Cedar Point Halloweekends Thur Sep 19-Sat Sept 21

This park was my first haunted event ever as a sophomore in college after spending my entire childhood never having seen a horror movie. I loved going through the haunted houses (should have known with the Haunted Mansion being one of my favorite Disney rides) and became hooked. From that trip on I started focusing on doing more haunted events. So needless to say, this event holds a special place in my heart and I try to go every year. I missed out last year so this was my first trip in two years. Ok here we go:

Thursday: If you can swing it, I highly, highly recommend getting to CP on a Thursday during Halloweekends. I also got a perfect weather day with no clouds, no wind (meaning fog lingered) and temps in the 70s. I also stayed at Breakers and love how they decorate for Halloween. All the old timey black and white photos of people on the beach are replaced with old timey kids in creepy masks. Besides the skeletons riding the carousel horses and creepy carousel clown carvings they also replace the pictures on the second floor from CP coasters to shots of rotting and abandoned amusement park rides Inside the lobby Everything is under 30 min wait, and if you wait until after 11pm you can go through scare zones by yourself. I did this with Blood on the Bayou this year. It was amazing, however be aware limited rides and no shows occur on Thursday, it’s just the headliners, scare zones and haunts. Also something was wrong with Steel Vengence Boom trucks were up around the lift fly by. I lost track of how much I accomplished but boy was it fun.

Friday:
Another beautiful day, started off sunny but became overcast in the afternoon and there was a wind that dispersed the fog. Crowds were still light through twilight when things definitely picked up but the lines for the coasters stayed short as everyone was here for the Halloween stuff. Sadly Maverick went down right at dusk and never reopened. Steel Vengeance also remained down all day. Magnum however, was running three train ops and the crew was hustling despite being a walk on.

Saturday: Perfect weather on Saturday means only one thing, gigantic crowds. The wait for the train on the Main Midway stretched out of the station and down the midway, it appeared to be long enough to require three trains to load (thankfully I boarded in Frontiertown.). I believe some of the crowding issues comes down to poor park decisions. None of the adult shows ran during the afternoon and the indoor haunts opened at 6:00pm. It really makes you rush (and need fright lane) to try and pack in seeing all the seasonal stuff. It’s understandable on Friday but not Saturday. I’m old enough to remember when indoor haunts opened at 2pm and Halloween shows started about the same time too. With the haunt actors now having to work 4 days I can understand why they have to open the houses later but there is no reason why the shows can’t run all day if they aren’t going to run on Thursday. Steel Vengence did manage to open late Saturday afternoon. Maverick again went down early for the night. Ok now on to the specific reviews:

Coasters:

You’ll have to forgive me but, seeing as this is probably the most reviewed park and virtually everyone reading this has been to this park a million billion times I’m going to skip it, the CP coasters were their normal excellent selves. I’m not sure if I’ll review the coasters in detail for the other parks yet (I’m leaning towards no as most of these parks are old hat for me and focusing on the Halloween stuff but we’ll see) anyways on to the spooky offerings:

Scare Zones (ranked from best to least best)

This is the reason you come to Halloweekends and this is by far their best offering. It continues to be.

Frontier Trail Zone (5 stars): I’m not sure why CP stopped giving this zone a name but it continues to be the best. This zone has the most sliders, all the trees and the talking skull. I don’t mind grabbing a seat and watching the mayhem. This zone is Halloweekends to me. I miss when there was more monsters back here but you can tell the top talent still gets assigned here. Also most of the No Boos tend to avoid the area based on its reputation.

Blood on Bayou (5 stars): aka the MF island/how much longer do I need to walk zone. They changed it up from the last time I was here and put a few scare actors along the first part of the path. I think it’s wasting talent keep them all along the area they normally use. It’s still a great zone, especially when going through it alone. I just wish, with the boats dry docked, that they would bring back the floating bridge to access the island quicker. There’s a guy in a gilly suit now and he’s amazing and you never see him coming.

Cut Throat Cove (4.5 stars): The crew is still great, I’m happy to see quite a few crew members have gotten Davy Jones disease (aka squid face) and bungie Pirate is always great, but for some reason the cannon has been silenced this year and it is sorely missed.

Tombstone Territory (3 stars) Frontier Town is just not a great place for a scare zone, it’s too open has too many shops (light creep) and fog never seems to linger here. The cowboys are no longer dead this year, they now are under the influence of a potion making them mad. They try really hard and that’s what earns them 2 stars above where this zone normally is but I say concentrate the talent more in the zones that work better.

Clownz (2 stars): If Frontier Town is bad this is just, the worst, all the normal lights are on on the Gemini midway and there is no where to lurk. They don’t even bother with fog. Also the ICP/KISS reject look is too monochromatic and gets dull. I wish they would put the zone in Camp Snoopy again and come up with a better theme. This was also the zone most infested with those horrible no Boo Necklaces.

Haunted Houses (again best to worst)

Cornstalkers 2.0 (5 stars): I know I said the Frontier Trail Scare Zone is the signatures experience and I stand by it, but this “house” is just behind it. I was fortunate to have two windless nights this year that allowed the fog to linger and I lead the way most of my runs. I love classic Halloween iconography and a haunted corn field is just pitch perfect in every way. Bonus points for being in the raft ride chute, also they have lengthened the maze since my last visit instead of two split the path moments, you get an extended switchback which is just great. I wish more parks did mazes in raft ride chutes it really adds to the claustrophobia. If you come, don’t miss this maze.

Midnight (3.5 stars): My only new maze this year it’s the home of the park icon Mr. Midnight and is a house full of phobias. This maze, if I hadn’t done its previous house Hexed would be 4 stars but since it reuses a lot of scenes (at least a third of the house) from that house so it loses a star for lack of originality, however it gets a half star back for having a spinning tunnel (which is a welcome return after years of being missing.)

Freak Show (3 stars): This has to be the oldest house in the park, interestingly they flipped the traffic and the entrance is now the exit. It does freshen things up, but what’s better is they added a trio of monkeys to the end which really makes a good finale. That said, it’s time for a change.

The Haunting of Eerie Estates (3 stars): This used to be my favorite house here because the details in this literal haunted house are spectacular but a few years ago they “downgraded” it by adding a ghost
hunter subplot that took away a lot of the more creative costumes (Mr Moneybags) and replaced them with ghost hunters. The bones are still good and there is a bunch of stuff to look at but I wish they would refresh this house again.

Blood Bath (2.5 stars): Stop if you’ve heard the concept before, horny vampire night club. Not my favorite, however, I do appreciate the hand fan snap scares and the transition to a hotel in the second half. It’s just the vampire night club thing has been done to death. Why did they go with club blood 2 over repeating a more original concept (Happy Jack should return!)

Slaughterhouse (2 stars): Gore doesn’t scare me, so this house is already losing points with me. Sadly it also lost its sausage extruder room post Covid that was such a cool transition from the pork/cow side to the human meat side. They also significantly toned down the cannibal aspect with only body bags as a call back which just makes this house more bland. On the plus side, actors in that second half now wear prosthetics that make them appear to have attached a pig snout and lower half of their face to their own which is a nice scary look.

Shows (ranked best to good)

Other than the timing being limiting, I think the shows have actually had a major upgrade this year and think it’s probably the strongest lineup the park has had, despite losing Midnight Syndicate. Bravo to this

Wake The Dead (A Murder Mystery Musical) (5 stars): I was so happy to see this show was still running, as I saw it 2 years ago and loved it. You are invited to the wake and will reading of Frederick Earl Anderson Rochester, 4 of his closest friends and family have been invited to the event, the wife, the son, the mistress and the brother. Each will sing their motive and we the audience will chose who murdered him and who gets to claim their eternal reward. This show manages to use songs by Oingo Boingo, the Cell Block Tango from Chicago, Tainted Love, Britney Spears, Meatloaf and even the Buffy the Vampire Musical episode. I love it. It also has 4 different endings making it highly repeatable. This is also the most popular show in the park and you need to line up for it at least 30 min prior to showtime to get a seat. They probably need to move this show to the Jack Aldrich (which is dark) to let more people see it.

Fangs After Dusk (5 stars): This is the Red Garter Rock show, featuring a 4 piece band and four singer/dancers. It’s the best version of this show I’ve seen in some time. The final set of Wanted Dead or Alive, Crazy Train (complete with added Halloween theme sprinkled into the opening instrumental section,) Come on Feel the Noise, and ending with Highway to Hell seriously kicks. Saw it multiple times, which is a rarity for me (usually once is enough.)

Nightmare’s Curse (4 stars): Located at Celebration Plaza this is the circus show. It starts and ends with some acts I have never seen (a pyromancer who takes this metal ball the size of a softball entirely on fire and twists it around his arms and chest, and an aerialist who is suspended by her hair) and also contains more typical (but good) acts (a aerialist curtain tumbler and guy who balances on a series of cylinders and blocks) all tied together by Mr. Midnight spouting deliciously campy things live. Well worth a watch

Opening Scarimonies (3 stars): This was the one show that absolutely should have happened on Thursday night, at 7pm Mr. Midnight arrives at Celebration Plaza to usher in the night and release the hoard of screamsters to their scare zones. A great way to start your night.

The Shrieks (did not see): A female rock band that plays on celebration stage, was never in the area for it

Skeleton Crew (did not see): This is the trampoline act that’s a Halloweekend main stay now located in front of the Giant Wheel. It’s so far removed from most of the haunt stuff that it makes it hard to see, it’s also not scary in the slightest and should have afternoon shows.

All and all a great year, the haunted houses however could really use a refresh, a lot of them are getting stale. If you haven’t been, you should check it out. CP Halloweekends may not be Knotts or HHN but it competes quite well with other parks in that next tier (KI, Busch Gardens, etc.)

Part 2: 10/1-10/9 Florida Hallowpalooza HHN and MNSHP

While Halloweekends may have been my gateway to spooky parks, Universal Orlando was soon my white whale after seeing the old Discovery Channel special on it and reading trip reports. HHN is both the pinnacle of haunted amusement parks and also an incredibly different animal than any other park. My first HHN was HHN 25 back in 2015 and I haven’t missed a year since (thanks to creative Annual Pass buying, or just leaving a WDW trip for a night to go to it.) I would argue that HHN is as different an experience to regional park events as is comparing a day at a Cedar Flags park to going to Disney World. On one hand it’s a higher class experience with amazing theming and over the top experiences, but it’s also much more crowded, more cooperate/less spontaneous and in order to have a really good time you really need to buy Express which makes it much more expensive.

While this is changing this year, this event for years was the only event where you had big horror IP houses. Thanks to this event I have walked down Elm Street, through Haddonfield, visited Camp Crystal Lake, gone into the Further, visited the Upside Down, checked into the Overlook Hotel, come face to face with with the classic Universal Monsters, gone to the Netherworld, experienced cats and dogs living together, and been to countless other amazing houses based on horror movies. This event turned me into a horror movie fan as after my first year I learned I needed to watch any movie HHN was featuring that year in order to fully enjoy that house. My favorite IP houses ever was Poltergeist, followed very closely by Stranger Things Season 1 (which occurred in the same year.). That said, my top house (Jack presents 25 years of Mayhem and Monsters) and rest of my top 5 (Wicked Growth, Scarecrow:The Reaping) come from original houses which as a whole are usually better quality. This event now hosts 10 haunted houses, and everyone of them is constructed with elaborate sets that at worse are of the same quality as other parks signature house and more frequently meet Hollywood Movie standards. If you’ve never been it’s hard to explain just know you got to experience it.

That said, this event does have it’s drawbacks, it’s incredibly crowded even with separate admission from normal park hours waits for the popular houses will exceed 60 min most nights, and you need to show up incredibly early to take advantage of stay and screen and have a airtight plan to get everything done in one night or purchase express (or if you’re crazy like me, do both so you can double up on half the houses.) There is no pulsing guests through the houses either, it’s a constant conga line. You will also quickly realize that scare actors here do not improv or speak for the most part, they have an audio cue and do one scare everytime, it’s for the most part extremely creative and innovative (the wire work, stilts, staging, makeup and costuming are incredibly creative) but for better or worse it comes off as highly polished and professional. Just as I can’t imagine missing this event, I would feel unfulfilled if this was the only Halloween event I did as this event does sacrifice spontaneity for the sake of efficiency. That said most years I’m down here for a week and do 5 nights of HHN, so I really love the event. Before I get to my specific HHN 33 review though let’s take a step back and talk about Universal in general.

Hotel: Hard Rock Hotel. Ever since as a kid I experienced my first stay at Universal’s premier hotels (Portifino, Royal Pacific and Hard Rock) I can’t imagine visiting any other way because these three hotels grant you Unlimited Universal Express for the length of your stay. Being able to just waltz into two of the most visited parks in the world and not have to care about lines is near priceless, but it’s a heck of a lot more then what they charge for these rooms. You will pay approximately 30-40% less (40-50% less with a AP rate like I snagged this year) then a Disney Deluxe Hotel, and that’s not even taking into account the hotels themselves. These hotels are all run by Lowes and have a level of service and comfort comparable to high end Marriott and Hilton hotels (not JW or Waldorf/Conrad.). Each hotel has boat service to City Walk, is walking distance if you don’t want to wait, and has an amazing pool. Up to a week ago I was set to stay at Portifino Bay for the first time but when I did my last check of the website 2 days before my cancellation window closed I happened to secure an AP rate for a pool view at Hard Rock and save $500. I jumped on it because of the three Hard Rock is my favorite, I love the California Mission Style/Rock and Roll theme and vibe and it’s also the closest hotel to the parks (which is especially important on my HHN trip.) Nothing against the other two, I generally book the cheapest room of the three, but I prefer to Rock out.

Parks:

Islands of Adventure: 5 stars. This is the park you come to Universal for, outside of Disneyland and Magic Kingdom (though that one may be nostalgia but I’ll allow it as it still has more attractions currently) it’s probably the best theme park in the country. Its Achilles heel is that it lacks quanity in particular entertainment (unless it’s Christmas.). But what it has is amazing, in particular its two most recent coasters.

Since I’m not sure enough ink has been spilled over them I feel the need to highlight them, first off Veliciocoaster, this is currently my favorite Intamin Blitz coaster and the most recent coaster to join my top ten. After a pitch perfect themed queue that sets you up for your adventure you advance into the paddock for for first launch, you get a snappy set of turns hills and inversions that reminds me a lot of Maverick’s first half, except more hills. You’ll zoom by Raptor statues that will roar as you go by, but then you dive below ground for launch number 2 to 70 mph and it’s at this point that the coaster takes its gloves off and goes insane. You’ll zoom into the top hat then get nearly forcibly ejected at the top as you snap down, next up is the extended inverted stall over the path (ejection moment #2) followed by a 90 degree fan hill, followed by a airtime hill (ejection #3) before diving to the lagoon executing a bunny hill at high velocity (ejection #4) before executing the most insane move of all, the “mosseasaurus” (heart line) roll (ejection #5) skimming the surface of the lagoon before climbing, getting one last pop of air on a double up and hitting the breaks. I don’t hold onto restraints on most steel roller coasters, especially ones with lap bars, but I always hold on during this ride. Every coaster enthusiast needs to come once and ride this ride, it’s that good. Also the ops on that thing is a thing of beauty. I believe 5 trains can run on this thing and they usually do a good job of not stacking more the one. The line flies. Come ride this beast, you won’t be disappointed.

Now onto the park headliner for GP, Hagrids Magical Motorbike Adventure. Veliciocoaster is the better roller coaster but this thing is the better attraction. In fact I’ll go out on a limb and say that it seriously vies for the best themed attraction in the US with the likes of Rise of the Resistance, Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain (RIP) and Radiator Springs Racers. The coaster is not as intense as Veliciocoaster but it still has 5 launches, is populated with animatronics, does some surprises I will not spoil and just takes you on an adventure. I think it’s impossible to not leave that ride with a giant smile. The motorcycle seat is super cool too and makes you feel more exposed. I can’t wait to see what this ride looks like in 10 years when all the trees grow in too. This ride is so good it gets me up for early entry on nights after I do HHN (it doesn’t have express.). This is a must ride as well.

Besides that you have a rare B&M launch coaster, two of the best thrill dark rides in existence in Spider-Man and Forbidden Journey, a trio of water rides that are some of the best of their type ever built in Popeyes Bilge Raft Barge (raft ride) Dudley Do Right Ripsaw Falls (log flume) and Jurassic Park River Adventure (Chute the Chute.). Even though two of them get you drenched I will ride so long as it’s warm enough (although as I get older it gets harder and harder to get out of Dudley Do Right.) To round it off you have Kong which is fun and has an animatronic at the end that is amazing, Cat in the Hat a fun but dated dark rides, a S&S space shot, teacups, a few kid areas, an elevated train, a Verkoma Roller Skater, a Dumbo clone and immersive themed areas to walk through. Not to mention the Hogwarts Express to the Studios if you have a park to park ticket. If you’ve always been a coasters only guy, and not sure if theme parks are for you this is the park to go to, Hulk, Veliciocoaster and Hagrids are worth the credits, and if the rest of the park isn’t your speed then theme parks are just not for you.

Universal Studios Florida (4 stars): This park is in the middle of an identity crisis, unlike Disney, Universal does not use nostalgia as heavily and can and does axe beloved attractions that get too long in the tooth. Thanks to that, this park, despite being less then 40 years old, has only one remaining opening day attraction (ET Adventure) and 3 shows (Blues Brothers, Horror Makeup Show, Animal Actors.) The issue is they went and infested this park with a lot of simulators in the 2000s and 2010s and most of them are aging, rapidly. Because of that this park has some similar issues modern Epcot is dealing with, you have a handful of great rides, some good shows, and a lot of ok to bad rides that show their age. Also like Epcot, Universal has made this park its festival park to compensate. I think it’s still a fun park, it’s just you see a lot of the flaws when you compare it to its next door neighbor. I’m going to highlight what I consider to be the great rides on this side and mention the shows I think are worth seeing. So in order of most favorite to less so:

The Revenge of the Mummy (5 stars): Pay no attention to the red roller coaster you see at the enterance to the park, it sucks, can’t remember the last time I rode it, as of this report this coaster in a box is the best coaster in this park. This is a Premier launching dark ride/coaster hybrid that is such a fun ride. The dark ride portion is appropriately spooky with some impressive pyro effects the coaster portion is snappy with some good pops of air and strong laterals. I was so happy to see the park do a major refurb on this classic during the pandemic to get it back up to shape but more so because it signaled Universal has no plans of killing this great rides anytime soon. Every trip down here this is always my first ride on arrival day, and if the Studios close last or at the same time as IOA it’s my last on my last day.

Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringots (5 stars): This is also a dark ride/coaster hybrid but it’s much more tilted towards the dark ride component. This is the signature ride in Diagon Alley, the best themed land in any theme park I’ve been to, if you’ve seen the films you will be in awe of how much this land places you in that world. This ride, if you’ve seen know the story, takes place during the 7th book/8th film as you accidentally become an accessory to the trio’s heist of the cup of Hufflepuff. It opens with a rare coaster trick, has a central portion where the coaster cars move like Spider-man/Transformers and then ends with a launch. The more I ride both the more I think this is the better of the two Potter dark rides because this one actually has a story, but the biggest issue it has is that is far too short. It really needs an extended mine cart coaster section, and it doesn’t have it.

Men in Black: Alien Attack (5 stars): outside of the Mummy this is the only other ride I will marathon in the Studios. I also still maintain that this is the best shooting dark ride ever made, you fire at actual animatronics in a full 3D environment and your car can spin. That said, a lot of the animatronics don’t move, the ride manufacturer went bankrupt and MIB is a dead franchise. I know the writing is on the wall, most likely when Springfield becomes Kanto and the electric rat and his hundred of friends move in. I’ll mourn its passing but forgive them if they can deliver on a Pokemon Snap ride and a Pokemon Stadium stunt show.

ET Adventure (4 stars): As I said before, this is the only surviving opening day attraction at the park, and rumor is Stephen Spielberg has told Universal he will tear up his development contract if they do. This is a 90s flying dark ride to ET’s home planet. The first half where you race through the forest evading NASA and then taking flight is utterly charming, the second half is trippy. In the last 3 years I’ve noticed locals have become very attached to it and its popularity has really increased. I think it’s finally old enough to have gone from outdated to beloved classic

Transformers (4 stars): This ride is a technical tour de force where you join the autobots to save the world. It uses the same system as Spider-Man next door and that’s its greatest weakness, as Spidy has more practical effects (fire) and is the stronger ride. It makes a very good ride look bad. Its most impressive aspect hurts it in this regard. This ride was originally built for USH where space is a premium and due to that this ride is actually a two story ride, with the cars traversing up and down two elevator shafts without guests noticing. The trip down occurs during the climactic drop sequence, and due to that cannot utilize fans to create the sensation of dropping like Spidy and Gringots can which to me completely destroys my suspension of reality. However, this is still a must ride once a day for me.

Volcano Bay: This is one of the most technological and best water parks in the country from its unique virtual queue system, lush landscaping, and quite honestly has the best food I’ve experienced in a water park (it’s a low bar, but it is elevated above the base rate of its safe and serviceable to something that is surprisingly nice.) Other times of the year I will do the park in its entirety once a trip before I just do this plan but during HHN I use it exclusively to recover from HHN every other day. As such, I will do the water coaster (only a short stair climb and it’s also the best slide in the park) a few times during EE and usually get two more laps in once the park opens, but otherwise I’m vibing in the fearless river or sleeping in the lazy river resting my poor feet. I’ll then grab lunch around 12:30-1 and head out. This park is perfect for that.

HHN 33: Sinister and Surreal cast their spell

General Thoughts: This is a good year for the event, not a great year but good. The issue is there is one very good house, and then a bunch of A-/B+ houses and even with that I don’t think a single house from this year will crack my top ten. On the plus side, there is not a clunker this year and after how bad Chucky was last year that’s a huge plus. I also think, once 11pm roles around and Sinister and Surreal decend from the neon catwalk and go to their receptive zones really elevate Torture Faire and Demon Queens giving this year’s event three very good scare zones. I also have to commend ops for purchasing two additional tents this year and placing them in such a way you can get in line for both of them back to back and not walk all the way back to the midway, that coupled with the loss of the two parade buildings (and that horrible stroll down the road behind ET) literally shaved an hour off my touring time. It’s by far the best thing about this year, I used to dread doing those houses because of it. Ok let’s break down the event…

Haunted Houses: These houses are what set this event apart, most years at worst the houses seem like the “prestige house” at other parks but more often just go over and above what you expect and make you feel like you entered a movie. Really great years of HHN they bat multiple home runs, and occasionally they will make a bad house. None of those extremes happen this year you have one house that is amazing (Insidious, aka jump scare the movie so it’s fairly easy to adapt) and a bunch of A- to B HHN houses (which again anywhere else would be amazing.) Unfortunately house wise this is probably the weakest line up since 2017, but that is more a reflection of how much of a streak this place has been on since 2018. I’m sure Epic Universe took some creatives and cash away from the event this year, but it’s still utterly amazing. Due to Universals quality if I was to grade on the same scale I did Cedar Point every house will get 5 stars, so instead I’ll grade on a letter scale. Ok best to least best, here we go!

1. Insidious: Into the Further (A): By far house of the year this year, upon rewatching this enjoyable franchise last month I had a revelation, pretty much every single scare in this movie is a jump scare, which obviously is stupidly easily to execute in a haunted house, and did Universal ever. This house covers all 5 movies and 90% of the cast are the four main ghosts. All but the Man who can’t breathe have masks that look just like the movies (the bride in particular is fantastic) and a majority of the cast has multiple boo holes. All that combines for a completely unrelenting house where a ghost is coming at you every few seconds. The top scares in this one include not one but two mannequin rooms, the Bride in Black has an elevated scare, and the final room features all four ghosts in quick succession. The only reason this house fails to get an A+ is the source material, these movies have no exciting/unique/breathtaking locations so by design your stuck with a typical house, black rooms or red curtains. I can’t imagine a house based on this franchise being better (we’ll see what I think of USH later on)

2. Ghostbusters Frozen Empire (A-): I may not have watched any horror movies as a kid, but I watched a lot of cartoons, and The Real Ghostbusters was one that I would gravitate to, which makes this franchise the only horror franchise for which I have any childhood nostalgia for. It also means I can’t be fully subjective when grading this house. That said, a Ghostbusters house is never going to be as scary as something like Insidious, it’s not in its nature, but what is in its nature is creative creatures, comedy, and good clean fun. This house delivers, it’s a wild romp through the latest film that manages to make sure that Easter eggs from previous movies still occur (the key master or gatekeeper of Gozer is here, as is Lord Vego.). The climatic scene of the Firemaster and Ellie battling the big bad is impressive in scope, the mini marshmallow men are used to great effect throughout the house in the way the gingerbread men from Krampus were. You also get to see all the iconography of the franchise, Slimer, Ecto One, the firehouse, proton packs, PKE meters, it’s all waiting for you here. Bustin makes me feel good, what more can I say.

3. Goblin Feast (A-): After a clear one and two these next three are extremely close and their order on any given night would probably depend on your timing. I personally enjoy this one the best because it has some impressive sets (a town square complete with a water mill, a castle gate) some good scares and a few impressive animatronics. I also love the goofy B movie plot of being invited to the Goblin Feast, where you are the main course. Just fun.

4. Slaughter Sinema 2 (A-): Speaking of B movies, this sequel house is exactly that, a series of fake B movie rooms you go through in quick succession. The original is in my top ten, this one isn’t quite as good but it’s still a bloody good time. My favorite movies being Heavy Metal Hell (in 3D,) Killer Kringles and Blood and Chum. What holds back this house compared to the original is that with one exception the monsters are humanoid in shape, and due to that it gets slightly more repetitive.

5. Monstrous (A-): This is a transplant from USH last year and is about folklore of Latin America. Its a tale of three monsters, a female shapeshifter with bird talon hands who feeds on the blood of babies, a male ghoul who killed his father, had his bones surgically attached to his back and now kills people and carves out their backbones, and a half woman half white owl who eats humans all stiched together by a mysterious skull faced figure in Brother robes. The sets are beautiful, there’s some nice animatronics and it’s very atmospheric.

6. Major Sweets Candy Factory (B+): Much like 3-5, the bottom 5 are all incredibly close and could switch places depending on timing. This vengeful candy magnate has laced his sweets with poison that mutates and drives children to a murderous rampage. This was less Willy Wonka gone wrong then Guilded Age factory on a murder spree. I was hoping for a bit more wimsy but I loved some of the kid scares and this house has 3 Guest Activated Effects.

7. Monsters Bloodlines (B+): This is the first Monsters house to fall to a B+. While it still has some great imaginative scares (bungee werewolf) and lots of actors it fall short. It’s hampered by its plot which, even after multiple times I’m still not entirely sure if. The daughter of Van Helsing is off to kill Dracula’s daughter because she killed Van Helsings siblings. Before going to castle Dracula she first goes to the tomb of Anauksunamon to acquire the heart of Ammon-Ra, she fails so she instead hunts the She-Wolf (for unexplained reasons.). While encountering the She Wolf, she finds the Monster recently murdered by the wolf so her and the Bride team up to kill Dracula’s daughter. As I said it makes no sense, especially when the Bride house at HHN 30 established that vampire blood revives the Monster. Anyways that’s why it’s a B+.

8. The Museum Deadly Exhibits (B+): This house grew on me the more I went through it. The story is the Museum’s newest exhibit “The Rotting Stone” is cursed and mutates employees into monsters and brings other exhibits to life (as monsters.). It’s fun, and there are some good scares.

9. A Quiet Place (B+): I love this movie, the house does a great job of bringing you through the first two movies, and the sets are eerie and foreboding, it’s just that there is only so many times I can get scared by an animatronic of the same alien. It’s far too repetitive.

10. Triplets of Terror (B+): This is a slasher house, three triplets murdered their family and guests as children dressed in an owl, bunny and clown mask. Every ten years after that they go on a murder spree. This is another story that is slightly confusing as we start at the cursed party, then we go into this blog themed room where we learn about the ten year anniversary killings. We then see a series of them, I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be different murder sprees or the same night, I wish they would have put dated pop culture references in the house to let us know time is passing.

Scare Zones

These are extremely hard to pull off here, because of the crowds, the selfie brigade, and other then one area having all the midways be wide and lacking trees to hide behind. It makes HHN different from any other haunt because the houses are better then the zones, ok let’s rank um:

1. Death Eaters in Diagon Alley (A): This was such a welcome edition last year, and fits the theme perfectly. In between stalking the crowd, the silent dark wizards and witches will duel each other in Knockturn Alley and cast the dark mark from the stage. It’s just so cool.

2. Demon Queens in Hollywood (B): This is Surreal’s zone and it’s all about psychological fear. Bizarre creatures of black, purple and blues prowl the street. This zone is at its best from 11:00-1 am when Surreal is is the zone herself and is doing little shows from the central parade float.

3. Torture Faire in New York (B): This is Sinister’s zone and it’s a Ren Faire all about torture, NY is wide open and always highly lit so for zones to succeed here you just have to have a brash scare zone when the actors are aggressive and that’s what this one is. Just like Demon Queens Sinister herself is on stage doing little shows from 11:00-1:00.

4. Swamp of the Undead in Central Park (B): This is the only area in the park that can have a traditional dark fog filled narrow scare zone and often is the best zone here, it’s not this year but mainly because the zones above are much better then normal. The only issue with this zone is that it can get too crowded.

5. Enter the Blumhouse in San Francisco (C): This is the selfie zone this year. It is what it is.

6. Duality of Fear at park entrance (D): This is not a zone, this is a farce of one the theming consists of the HHN arch and is so short. It also is the place for the chainsaw hoard this year and that’s it. Sinister and Surreal are up on the arch at the beginning and end of the night heckling the crowd but they can only be heard from the front of the arch. Just a disappointing zone.

Entertainment:

Nightmare Fuel Infernal Circus: Just one show this year, and it’s fire dancing and some light magic. It’s cool but I still miss Bill and Ted.

Thats my review of Universal, unfortunately, Milton killed my MNSSHP night as I chose to book a flight a day early when that system blew up Saturday and was thrilled to GTFO of Florida a day before that thing hit. California coming soon…

Only one day at Knotts? And two at DCA?

Most people I know run out of DCA stuff to do in 3-4 hours.

One day at Knotts is enough, especially with Fright Lane and the fact I’ll be there on a Wednesday. DCA is coupled with DL and I’ll park hop there everyday. Doing two Oogie Boogie Bashes during a 5.5 day stint at DLR.

Everyone online so far seems to rank it above HHN this year and for vibe in general as always (quality of sets, commitment and quality of actors, and food) I would rather spend two full dark nights there for all ten houses and shows, and Ghostrider night rides, and Log Flume especially to me as its the best seasonal thing CF/SF inherited and haven’t messed up, also especially as a lot of DL is under construction. Also nothing compares to Knotts at Halloween.

I love DL but not for multiple days with some of the worst crowds ever and a-lot of construction walls.

Tianas wont open till Nov, Jungle Cruise Is Down, The RR is down, Small World is Down, and HM without a full que, and virtual selling out quickly. Great Moments, Half the esplanade, and the back of Downtown Disney.

Good luck! But I assume you have a CF pass so switching to bonus Knotts will be easy.

Are you talking Hollywood HHN or Orlando? Because the general chatter is that HHN Hollywood is inferior to Orlando, mainly because Hollywood has a weird layout and actually uses their soundstages for filming throughout the year and doesn’t get the benefit of having an indoor space free the whole year to start constructing houses for next years HHN within weeks of the event ending. That and the distance from DL has why I’ve never gone to HHN Hollywood previously. This year however, the pull of Mario, wanting to see the Jurassic World ride, and to a lesser extent SLOP pulled me in.

I love Knotts, it’s amazing, but it is so small. One day there is usually plenty for me to do everything multiple times. I’m coming back for Christmas, Summer, and next Halloween so I’m usually good with one day there. JC will come back up while I’m there, not being able to do the Mansion more then once a day will be a bummer (I usually do it once during the day and once post Fantasmic,) as will missing the train, but I love DLR. I miss most of the crowds by rope dropping, leaving in the mid afternoon to relax at the hotel, have dinner then see the night shows and end strong with another power riding session around close. I do t foresee my plan changing.

Two years ago we finally did both HHN's after basically going yearly to Orlando since 2004... Our general thought was that while Orlando is the overall better event, Hollywood was really not far off... The houses are not as grand, but the zones were probably a bit better (that year)... The layout is a bit funky, but wasn't a big deal. Still felt like HHN, which is a good thing.

The huge downfall for Hollywood were the operations... Every single line crawled unlike any other. Orlando pushes throughput and it shows, because Hollywood is a complete 180 where you are standing more in queues than walking (in Orlando, I feel like you never stop moving). One house that should have been 15 minutes max if in Orlando was well over an hour in Hollywood. They also much greatly favor express priority, basically letting them flow in constantly as they show up and not 'zippering' groups like in Orlando. So if you get express, you will have a much more premium experience in Hollywood compared.

I could honestly go to either/or and be satisfied for my HHN event fill... But at the end of the day, Orlando has much better operations and the house quality is a tad better, so it gets the W between the two.

Already secured a RIP tour, I have one night, and didn’t want to chance it. I’m told RIP access even without your guide is actual Front of the Line as much as you want.

Yeah, sounds about right. The express/tour groups in Hollywood get far more premium/unlimited access at the expense of making standby lines much worse mixed with their operations being slower in general.

Updated my first post to put my FL adventure, that was cut a day short by Milton.

Part 3: My October California Adventure

Universal Studios Hollywood/Halloween Horror Nights 10/13

I had been to USH once before back in 2015. I had done the VIP tour then which had an extended backstage tour where we got to walk around back there. I would highly recommend doing that once. Besides that tour however, I was rather disappointed at the offerings as every other attraction there was either a direct copy of what was in USO or an inferior version. I didn’t think I would ever come back, but then, Jurassic Park the Ride became Jurassic World the ride, Secret Life of Pets opened and finally Super Nintendo World and I decided I would go back.

Hotel: Hilton Universal City. This hotel is literally across the street from the park. It was very nice and I got to avoid the parking fee at USH and walk to the park which was super convenient and allowed me to go back midday. Worth it.

General Thoughts: I’ve always maintained that the difference between USO and USH is that USO is a theme park pretending to be a movie studio, and USH is a movie studio pretending to be a theme park. The history of what took place at USH and the studio tour are amazing and well worth visiting once, but the rest of your day will suffer from a bizzare layout, and the park just not being the priority. Ok, let’s review the adult coaster and everything that’s new from my last trip:

The Revenge of the Mummy The Ride (3.5 stars): While I do enjoy the skeleton room, the warrior Mummy’s slamming down as you launch and the extended backwards section, this ride is shorter, (both the dark ride portion and coaster section,) slower, lacks any pyro effects, or airtime compared to USF. It also manages to have an even lamer and more confusing ending than the Orlando version. It’s fun but not the gem the Orlando version is.

The Secret Life of Pets (4 stars): This is a new slow moving dark ride in the Upper Lot. Before riding I had heard that the seat restrictions on this ride were very tight, but I fit without issue. This ride is absolutely adorable and USH succeeded in making a dark ride in the spirt of a Fantasyland dark ride. You are a puppy up for adoption and the SLoP crew are going to help you get ready. Highly recommend.

Jurassic World: The Ride (5 stars): This is a reimagining of JP:TR. Going scene by scene, instead of starting with the ultrasaur you enter a narrow channel surrounded on both sides by the mosesaur pool who will eat a shark, breach (causing half the boat to get wet) and then crack the glass. The stegosaur and hadrosaur scenes are essentially unchanged, but instead of entering the raptor paddock you instead enter Predator Cove, here you see a busted gyrosphere and the raptor and I Rex paddocks have been damaged and the animals escaped. As you round the bend where the boat used to be monitors turn on and Owen and Claire tell you to stay calm, etc. As you inch towards the lift you find out the building is no longer a power plant it’s T-Rex Kingdom. As you engage with the lift the I-Rex sticks his snout in on the left. Going up the lift you only have one pop out raptor from the ceiling at the top of the lift. Creasting you find your self in a night jungle environment a poison spitter comes out on the right followed by Blue who chats with the I Rex who is a full animatronic and walks up and roars at you. Finally the T Rex pops out and roars at the I Rex as you fall. For the most part I like the changes but I have one major and one minor complaint. The major one is the mosesaur who uses screens, and replaced the ultrasaur who was an animatronic, it’s a downgrade not to mention starts breaking things far too early in the ride. When they convert FL I hope they leave this scene out. The minor complaint is they don’t have the T Rex try to bite your head off, don’t do that, keep it.

Super Nintendo World (5 stars): The land is amazing you really feel like you are in the mushroom kingdom. I highly suggest (if you grew up playing these games) you pony up for the wristband, the games are a blast. I will almost certainly spend more time doing the interactive stuff here then I do the Potter wand stuff. While the mini games are easy, the boss match with Baby Bowser is a little more difficult and chaotic not to mention so much fun. Plus, there is something immensely satisfying to hear that sound when hitting a question box. Toadstool Cafe has some excellent garlic knots, the Mario Burger was very good as was the Mt. Beanpole Cake. Can’t wait to experience the Yoshi ride and DK land in Epic.

Mariokart Bowser’s Challenge (4 stars): This ride was not what I expected out of a Mariokart ride, it’s a slow moving dark ride through sets and with an interactive shooting component. It’s still very fun, but not a grand slam the rest of the world is.
All-right, that’s the daytime stuff, onto…

Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood

General: This is not Orlando, which I knew going in but, even so I have to say I was mostly disappointed. Not only is it not Orlando but the production value was actually less impressive than Knotts. There was no bungee scares, no wire work, no sets over 10ft tall outside of the facade, no big spaces in the maze it was all smaller rooms. and in the soundstages they didn’t have the giant black curtains like Orlando does. The shows were great. But it was so crowded, I’m glad I payed for my RIP tour, I never waited more then a minute the whole night (unlike Orlando you get to use the RIP line as many times as you want) which is what saved my night. Regular Express lines were all 30-45 min most of the night and I won’t talk about the normal line. It’s not that it’s a bad event it’s a good one, but it’s no where near the quality of its Orlando brother but still costs the same and has just as bad crowds and there is an event in town that is much better, cheaper, and less crowded (more on that later.) I likely won’t go to this event again. I always thought the argument HHN Orlando leans on their IP to coast was wrong, but that’s a totally appropriate argument to raise about Hollywood. Ok enough with the negativity, let’s rank the houses:

Houses (best to least best):

The Terror Tram (Enter the Blumhouse) (5 stars): This was the one truely exceptional house, mainly because of where it is. This takes place on the back lot in the Bates Motel, War of the Worlds and Jupiter’s Claim set. Megan greets you at the enterance and then you get a mix of Happy Death Day, Black Phone and Freaky in the Bates hotel. Then you get a photo op by a horrified version of the Hollywood sign and with Norman on his porch. Then you plunge into the War of the Worlds set for the Purge. Thats when the tram ends for non RIP guests but for us we get 3 more photo ops, and one additional mini show in Jupiter’s Claim featuring Nope and Us. Just super cool to be back here after dark.

Universal Monsters Bloodline (4 stars): This maze also benefits from where it is, it’s the first HHN maze to ever be in Soundstage 12, the stage where they shot the original Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein; more recently it was also the home to the Jurassic Park Visitor Center sets. This houses story makes much more sense then Orlando, and the monsters are plentiful and always a treat to see.

Monstrous (4 stars): This is again a collection of three Latin America monsters one is a skeleton in a marrachi outfit who seems to prey on the greedy, the second is a werewolf, and the third is an imp like creature with razor sharp teeth. Again solid looking sets and lots of scares.

The Weekend Nightmare Trilogy (4 stars): This was a Hollywood exclusive IP this year and I ended up really enjoying this one. Not surprising, given I enjoyed his prior house. Bizzare body horror stuff, cool soundtracks just a strange trip.

A Quiet Place (4 stars): This is the final IP house that had a more solid story then Orlando, Orlando rushed through the first movie (the climax scene was the second room) where this one is more 50/50. The smaller rooms also improve the scares in this one.

Dead Exposure (3.5 stars): Neon colored/Radioactive zombies in a govt facility, simple, effective and the actors were very aggressive, fun house, just nothing special.

Insidious (3 stars): This and the following were my first two houses and really set the stage for my disappointment in this event. It claims to be about the whole series but it’s 90% Lipstick Demon and only has cameos of the other ghosts. The sets were also so small and we had a lot of black hallways. Everyone else in my group loved this house, but less than a week out from experiencing Orlando’s near pitch perfect house I was very disappointed in the effort (the scare actors were great though.)

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (3 stars): This franchise needs big elaborate tall sets to compliment the ghost design and allow you to be emersed in the world, this house does not have that, everything is one story tall, and you hardly ever see the big bad. I’m sure it’s better for people who haven’t experienced the Orlando version but I’m spoiled.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (3 stars): Again, gore doesn’t scare me, I’m also tall, this maze just doesn’t push my buttons, there was also a surprising lack of Leatherface and chainsaws.

Scare Zones: These are so short they kind of meld together and they are all on the upper lot, which means they are packed with people, but the actors are used to it and do a great job of getting scares. Very fun.

Shows:

The Purge (stunt show) (5 stars): This is in the Waterworld theatre, and uses their sets, boats and pyro but adds a bunch of kill gags. Bloody Good Time.

Late Night with Chucky (4 stars): This is in the Kung Fu Panda theatre and is a “taping” of Chucky’s new Late Night show. You text him questions before the show and he answers them. There’s an impressive puppet inside who has a great sense of humor and gets all stabby at the end. The show is too short (10ish minutes) and the audience too large to get 5 stars, but given the demand for this show sacrifices need to be made.

Knotts Berry Farm/Knotts Scary Farm 10/16

General: This park, in my opinion is the third top tier park in the Cedar Fair chain (and the only one not in Ohio) it may be small, but it’s got a great coaster collection, arguably the best log flume in the world, a super unique dark ride in the Calico Mine Train, two trains, and Ghost Town to walk around. The park also boasts the best entertainment offerings in the chain which results in me skipping a day at Disneyland most trips to the area.

Coasters:

Ghost Rider (5 stars): This is the best wooden coaster west of the Rockies and holds a spot in my top ten ever since GCI refurbed this thing. The front half is a great typical L shaped out and back, but the second half after you sail through a wide open block break without slowing down, is insane, especially its 450 degree helix finale. I did the Boo-fet and got the earliest sitting which meant I got 30 min of essentially ERT and rode it 3 times which was great.

Hangtime (4 stars): This is a super unique Gertslauger Vertical Lift and drop multi looper. It’s smooth, disorienting and just a fun experience.

Jaguar (3 stars): A Verkoma Roller Skater that is a full length ride it’s a fun breezy journey through Fiesta Village.

Pony Express (3 stars): A motorbike short launch coaster which is a fun but extremely short ride.

Silver Bullet eluded me, everytime I tried to ride something happened, Xcelerator was down, Montazuma was in pieces but still being advertised as coming soon and as I type this I realize I forgot to ride the sidewinder which is ok, I had other priorities.

Ok, let’s get to the main event, Scary Farm

General: This is not my first trip to Scary Farm, I started visiting back in 2013 and have been many times since, with my last trip occurring in 2021. This is a world class event and the only event I would place in the same league as HHN Orlando. It makes sense, this is the park that litterally created the Halloween Thene Park event 51 years ago and invented scare zones, sliders, and a host of other things. Sure you don’t have the IP and the production value of the mazes is slightly less, but you gain the best and scariest scare zones in the country and actors who are allowed to improv and be unpredictable. It’s main drawback, and a reason it’s not a must do annual trip for me is the park can’t afford to replace all their houses every year, so houses typically last 3-5 years; I knew going in 3 of the 10 were houses I already experienced. It was so great to be back.

Houses (best to least best):

Eight Fingers Nine: The Bogeyman (5 stars): One of two all new houses this year this is the story of Eight Fingers Nine a colonist who was relentlessly bullied and eventually strung up in a tree and left to die. The forest spirt took pity on him and transformed him into a half wood skinny tall lank monster with a hunger for revenge and fingers. He comes at night and will chew off your fingers one by one, with every lost digit you slip further and further into madness and eventually doomed to suffer and endless nightmare as the boogeyman man buries you in a tree. This house was beautiful with a full town square, a slow trip through time and a finale where we went into Eldrich horror and enter a tree ourselves.

Cinema Slasher (5 stars): This was a new house last year and wow another home run. This starts as a derelict cinema showing a marathon of slasher movies starring the slasher, but you get transported into the movies, the first has a college setting, then a camp setting and finally a factory. With each movie the screen starts to look more and more run down and appears that the slasher is breaking into the real world. Just a really fun and long maze. The finale is a giant animatronic version of the slasher.

Widows (5 stars): This is the other new house this year and tells the story of a nursing home who has been infested by spiders. However these spiders are capable of mind control and transforming the residents slowly into giant spiders. You face the queen at the end.

Origins: The Curse of Calico (4.5 stars): if you frequent this park, have experienced Ghost Town Alive, and know Haunt lore this maze is a real treat. This maze is dedicated to the icon of Scary Farm the Green Witch. Sarah Marshall was convicted and hanged by the good citizens of Calico for witchcraft. Instead of dying she transformed into the Green Witch and placed a curse on the town turning all the citizens into monsters. This house takes you through the streets of Calico and incorporates characters from ghost Town Alive and longtime scare actor characters in Ghost Town. It loses its half star only because it was never fully staffed on my runs.

Grimrorie (4 stars): Campers found a cursed book and start reading it out loud only to get sucked into stories all in black and white, first a canibal family from the 50s, then WWI front line, then the book returns you to the real world infested by monsters. This is the swan song for this house.

Mesmer (4 stars): This is the circus house, it is about a freak show run by the mentalist Mesmer, he sought mystical power and one faithful night he unlocked some, causing his workers to become monsters, in the end it was too much for him and he fell under the spell too.

Room 13 (3 stars): A 19020s era Speakeasy and hotel has a new glowing green drink that is the bees knees. It just has the side effect of turning you into a mindless zombie. The finale shows you the source. Gets a little repetitive at the end.

The Chilling Chambers (3 stars): This was the anniversary house for last years 50th. Other than some Easter eggs, none of them are from the 10+ years I’ve been visiting, which is a bummer. Apparently last year they had videos of a curator introducing every house but this year all we have is a screen with a glowing K. There is also only 3-4 different houses represented. I can’t help but compare it to HHN’s 25th anniversary house and find it a bit lacking. It also was hurt by very low staffing when I went through.

Wax Works (3 stars): This is another retiring house and has been here for a while. It’s the classic House of Wax house but it was severely low staffed when I went through it and it was never one of my favorites.

Bloodline 1889 (3 stars): Victorian Vampires. Retiring maze. For years Knotts has had a shooting haunted house, about the time I started going they had an experiment scare zone where they closed down Camp Snoopy and set up a game where you were part of a rading party during a zombie apocalypse in search of the cure. You had a guide and litterally ran around in the dark, it was awesome, but only 33% of attendees could do it due to time constraints and it messed up park flow. They moved it to a house where it’s never translated as well. They finally gave up the ghost this year and ditched the concept. The problem is this maze was designed for it (monsters up on platforms, wide open spaces) and because of that it suffers, I assume the gun thing was a last minute decision otherwise this house would have been changed already.

Scare Zones: These are the best scare zones in the nation and are the heart and soul of this event, the Ghost Town Zone has been a part of the event since the beginning and is the original theme park scare zone, the other zones all have a special show that happens unannounced and are a treat to come across, the Goring 20s has a jazz band, Foresaken Lake has a wake, and the Gauntlet has a sliding competition/trial. Ok best to least best:

Ghost Town Streets (5 stars): The home of the Witch, the Bride, the Conductor and Fog Alley. Best Scare Zone I’ve experienced. Infested with sliders.

Carnevil (5 stars): Bring on the clowns! These actors are aggressive with a wicked sense of humor.

Forsaken Lake (5 stars): Dark and foreboding, also usually the quietest scare zone as it’s off the beaten path. Vaguely Cajun themed.

The Gauntlet (5 stars): The newest scare zone, this is medieval themed. Works well.

Goring 20s (4 stars): You would think this scare zone would be populated with green elixir sufferers, but you would be wrong, it’s instead full of the sober people terrorized by the drinkers. It’s a weird zone, really highly lit, and doesn’t feel like the rest.

Shows:

Carnival du Grotesque (4 stars): This is the circus act and features a sheet acrobat, a fire dancer, and a guy on the weighted circle swing. There is also a murderous clown. The fire dancer was amazing, but as a whole I think CP had a better show this year.

The Hanging: Was unfortunately having technical difficulties and was not shown.

Rides:

The Calico Candy Mine (5 stars): For Halloween the Mine Ride is transformed from a gold and silver mine into a candy mine by the Pink Fairy and during the day everyone is happy about that; but during haunt, the pink fairy’s candy transforms children who eat too much of it into gingerbread men whom the pink fairy’s eats. This isn’t projections only, there are a bunch of props and the animatronics are reprogrammed.

Timber Mountain Log Flume Halloween Hootanany (5 stars): This ride also features reprogrammed and redressed animatronics a new soundtrack and a bunch of extra props. You can experience it during the day and it’s just a fantastic addition to a fantastic ride.

Disneyland Resort and Oogie Boogie Bash

General: After a 3 year absence I was very happy to activate my Magic Key to the Disneyland Resort. For years due to finances and the thought that I could never do Disney World trip by myself. Then Cars Land and World of Color happened and the kid who thought DL was just an inferior WDW suddenly wanted to go to the west coast. On a shoestring budget that I saved for a year to do it, and two years later (with a better job) I was an annual passholder during the 60th anniversary year. So needless to say, even though I grew up with WDW I also love DLR. I’m always quick to say that I prefer WDW to DLR, but Disneyland Park is my favorite Disney Park. To those of you have not been, DLR is comparable in size and scope to the current Universal Orlando campus, you have 2 parks with short walk apart from each other and an attached dining/shopping district with 3 onsite hotels. Unlike UO there is no water park and the hotels are all walking distance away. Ok here we go with the top rides and shows of each park:

Disneyland Top Rides

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: This is by far the ride that will blow away all you WDW people the first time you head west, this ride is double the length, has double the drops and the sets are bigger. This ride is 15-20 min long depending on if you have a backup before the lift. It’s absolutely amazing.

2. Rise of the Resistance: Other then the queue being different and shorter (both in length and time spent compared to FL because Rise is in a much better park with many more rides) this ride is exactly the same on both coasts and it’s amazing. I would recommend not rope dropping however since DL (even though this ride closes early to supposedly prevent this) can’t seem to open this ride on time to save their lives. Go mid-late afternoon and the line will be posted at 60 min but actually be 45 min.

3. Haunted Mansion Holiday: From Sept-early January the Mansion out west is redecorated by the Nightmare Before Christmas crew so throughly it’s hard to even recognize as the HM in parts. You get to see fully articulated Jack and Oogie AAs along with more limited Sally and Zero AAs. I really like the change it keeps the ride fresh (regular Mansion I think is better at MK because that one is longer.)

4. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: For an MK person it’s still a little jarring to go right instead of left (the ride is a mirror image here) and I miss not going through the town before lift 2 but the goat chewing on the dynamite and especially the explosive 3rd lift just slightly elevates this version over the MK one.

5. Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye: This is the jeep simulator/dark ride hybrid like Dinosaur, but better in pretty much every way. Indy has discovered a new temple where Maya awaits ready to gift travelers either youth, wealth or visions of the future, so long as you don’t look into their eyes. Doing so with earn you a trip through the gates of doom. Just an all around fun ride.

6. Space Mountain: While judging just on the coaster itself, Florida would win out (this ride is basically just some flat spins and down ramps) everything else is far better here, better projections, on board audio, 2 across seating. This ride succeeds in making you feel more like you are in space.

7. Matterhorn Bobsleds: The original steel tubular track rollercoaster I still really enjoy, I don’t think it’s too bumpy and have a lot of fun on this ride. While it didn’t happen this trip, if you are ever in the area when it rains, ride this ride during or right after, the skid breaks don’t work as well.

Notable other rides: The Mickey & Minnie ride is nearly identical to the DHS version but sports a much better queue and usually only a 30 min wait, Roger Rabbit and Alice are super unique fun dark rides.

Shows:

Halloween Screams Firework Show: I have yet to see Wonderous Journeys but I’ve seen every other firework show for the last 10 years, and this show is by far my favorite, even with the flamethrowers still turned off. If you ever saw the old Hallowishes show at MK it uses much of the same soundtrack, but it’s narrated by Jack Skellington, the castle has full projections, there is a blow up globe that appears behind the castle and has projections on it and Zero replaces Tinkerbell flying over the castle. It’s just fantastic, especially when Sleeping Beauty Castle gets covered in thorns and Malnificent the dragon ignites them with her green flame. Even better, it shows for regular guests with no upcharge Fri-Sun + Holidays.

Fantasmic!: To those that don’t know, this is the show where Mickey has a dream that eventually runs away from him and in order to regain control he must battle the Disney Villains. It’s a great show but it is such a shame that Murphy the dragon burned itself to the ground, the show really suffers by missing its signature effect, but it is really, really nice to have the Peter Pan section back in all its glory. I look forward to the dragon returning (rumored to be soon) but even with that back I think the latest version of the DHS show surpasses this one.

Disney’s California Adventure: This park gets a bad rap, and while Disney has muddled the theming since I started going, you really can’t argue this is one of only 3 non castle Disney Parks you can spend the entire day at (Epcot, and from what I’m told DisneySea) but it still gets a bad rap because of its first iteration. Anyways onto the notable rides:

1. Radiator Springs Racers: This is the ride that got me to book that first trip over 10 years ago and it is still an absolutely amazing ride. This ride utilizes the Test Track cars, and you head off into ornament valley for a drive, run into Mater and go tractor tipping, head into town, get new tires or paint and then race another car for the finale.

2. Guardians of the Galaxy: Monsters After Dark: This is a reimagine of DCA’s inferior Tower of Terror, and the normal version improves on that ride (but is still inferior to the DHS version) interestingly, it swaps out the horror/scary vibes for Guardians style good natured chaos as Rocket turns off power to the Collector’s collection in order to free the rest of the Guardians. The Halloween version (that only runs after 4pm) is a sequel to that ride. Baby Groot got left behind and now is trapped in a tower full of monsters and Rocket needs our help to free him. As you enter the queue everything is malfunctioning and sufficiently creepy. Rocket enlists us to essentially be bait (his departing instructions as the ride starts to “scream real loud, and look delicious”) and off you go to a rock soundtrack. It’s a pretty aggressive drop profile and a lot of fun, especially if your CM is hamming it up (the ride ends with a jump scare noise and some CMs will come screaming into the elevator as the door opens armed with a butterfly net or broom.) My only criticism is it would be nice to see more then one monster.

3. Toy Story Midway Mania: Exact same ride, but with shorter waits, and I’m pretty addicted and good at it (have hit over 300k, consistently get greater then 250k) one of the better shooting rides.

4. The Incridicoaster: You know this ride is actually quite fun, it would be more fun with lap bars, but the launches are fun, there is some mild air, decent laterals and it’s smooth. It also usually sports a >30 min wait thanks to its insane 5 train capacity.

5. Soarin Around the World: If they let me, I would have a grand time marathoning this ride all day (even more so if it was the California film) it’s so relaxing.

6. Grizzley River Run: This ride was once hands down the best raft ride in America, now that Intamin is building new ones again I’m not so sure, while I really enjoyed SDC’s I think this one still edges this out, but SWO’s I’m not so sure. Either way, along with IOA’s this is clearly in the upper echelon of raft rides, and the only one with two major drops.

Honorable Mentions: Web Slingers is growing on me but I still much prefer Mania, Deadpool and Wolverine running amuck in Avengers campus is amazing, I saw them as part of the Guardians show and once with Deadpool riding a rocking Unicorn, Maters ride (love child of a Crazy Daisy and a Whip) is a lot of fun, and Mickey’s Wheel of Death is also fun and unique I just wish they would let you go around more then one rotation. Also the two dark rides here get too much hate, I really enjoy both of them (Mermaid, Monsters.)

Oogie Boogie Bash:

This is a really unique party and has a lot less in common with the East Coast Version then you would think, I think it’s quite fun but it’s not necessarily better then Mickeys Not So Scary, just different. Let’s start with the similarities, both have a phenomenal Halloween Parade that is not to be missed, both will have special characters out and encourage guests to dress in costume and Trick or Treat and rides with short waits. That’s where the similarities end.

At OBB the trick or treat trails also function as more distant meet and greets, as you get your candy a villain is on stage heckling, monloguing or singing. As you get closer you are encouraged to play along and heckle the villain and take pictures. It’s a very nice upgrade and allows those of us who don’t want to wait over an hour to interact with characters. You only wait 20 min tops and get loads of candy. The real highlight however is Villains Grove, what is essentially an atmospheric scare zone without actors. Instead it uses fog, projections lights and music to have areas themed to most of the Disney Villains. It’s fun to walk through. I highly recommend this event if you can get a ticket.

Reading that makes me want to get back to Disneyland. It's been ten years and a lot has changed. One thing that sticks with me is I genuinely preferred the California version every single ride that is in both DL and WDW with the sole exception being that we clearly have/had the better Tower of Terror. It was still Twilight Zone out west then so I would love to ride the new Guardians version.

I also still kick myself for not taking a day (or even half day) for Knott's.

Touchdown:

but you gain the best and scariest scare zones in the country

Interesting you say that because I can’t honestly recall a single one from my visit last year. I remember detouring through one on our way out and it was completely empty except for a few actors growing at us. It could have just been a me thing because it was the last thing on that trip after doing Universal then Yosemite. Wish I would have made more time for the mine ride, the flume was amazing though.

Agree about everything you said about Disneyland though. I just love how their rides blend into and envelope the park. Fantasyland has boats and trains interacting with the same sets, Big Thunder rides right past a dining patio, The build up on Pirates through the swamp (something Tokyo recreated), the way the boats circle around the entrance. You’re making me want to go back. Thanks for sharing the rest of your trip.

As with any park, the scare zones lose their energy at the end of the night. The best time to go through them is in the middle of the night (9-11) when crowds are higher and everyone isn’t tired yet.

I greatly prefer Mission Breakout to ToT FL. I find myself walking off with an ear to ear grin no matter how many times I’ve ridden.

First I enjoy the Twilight Zone, but more importantly I like how DHS ToT slowly reveals its tricks, up until the 5th dimension room it functions as just a simple elevator and adds tension as to when the cable will snap, everytime I ride it with a first time rider I hear a gasp of awe when we suddenly start moving forward and leave the shaft. Then once you finish that room you enter an abyss and know that “it’s time.” I hate how you enter the ride from the exit hallway in California and the first thing this elevator does is do an un elevator thing (push back.) I know why they do this and appreciate the increased efficiency but it still is a major flaw and stinks that it’s the first thing you encounter.