UNIVERSAL'S HALLOWEEN HORROW NIGHTS BUST!

I just went to Horror Nights at Universal Studios Fl, yesterday night. As a Fl Resident with a season pass I paid $25.00 (this promo was ony for opening weekend) for pass holders it is $49.00 on any other Saturday and $36.00 for any Friday in the month of October!

After going to Kennywood's Phanton Fright Nights two years ago I can honestly say that Universal holds no candle to Kennywood. Infact, I was VERY disappointed with almost everything Universal had.

The main host charaters, were very good (The Story Teller, Jack, the Undertaker, the Producer) the make-up on SOME of the charaters was also very good but the Haunted houses and "Scare Zones" were lacking, to say the least. There was one "Scare Zone" along the waterfront past Terminator walking towards Back to the Future that was EXCELLENT - the costumes were great and the Pumpkin people & scare crows were awesome.

The rest of the :Scare Zones" were crap. The haunted houses - the 4, that I could actually get into without an 80 minute, yes 80 minute posted wait time, were all just the same with different themes. The only one I liked was one called Run, which had a posted time of 45 minutes but actually ended up as an hour and a fifteen minute wait. That one was decent. I never got into the other five houses - which all had at least an hour wait.

In My opinion DON"T waste your time and or money - Save it and take the trip out to Kennywood - I am curious about Busch Gardens and how there Howl & Scream is, but there was nothing scary about horror nights. How could you be scared with about 20 thousand people all walking around?

As an avid horror fan I was very unhappy and if anyone knows of a better halloween experience any where please let me know! My only regret now is that I did not plan my trip to PA carefully, as I am heading to Knoebels for the Phoenix Phall fun Fest on Thursday and I only wish I planned a longer weekend to go back to Kennywood. At least I will take a ride through the Haunted Mansion at Knoebels- which YES is actually SCARIER than Horror nights and only costs a buck and a quater!

Ouch. I'll be checking out HHN in 2 weeks. I myself am a avid horror/ halloween guru. I also work with a haunted attraction thats in my area. I've always heard nothing but great things about HHN's. This is one the first real dis's, i've read from a trip report about the event. However i think my trip will be a little more interesting aside from visiting the park, I"m also going to be getting to experience the vip tour as well. I havnt been to flordia since 98, so overall I don't anticapte to encounter any disapointing times In visiting universal again especially for HHN's.

I went to HHN a couple times years ago, now I go to Howl-O-Scream....just too crowded at Universal. Granted, due to scheduling necessities my last HHN was on a (gasp!) Saturday, which I'll NEVER do again, but still...

Did any 'Buzzers go to the HHN when they had two parks? That sounded like the ONLY way for them to appropriately distibute the ENORMOUS number of people that were there when I went....and even though that (my visit) was probably 3-4 years ago now, and even though Bill&Ted's was possibly the best show I've seen at any park, Halloween event or otherwise, I just can't see waiting through THOSE kinds of crowds...

...finally, yes, Knoebels *and* Kennywood both compare favorably IMO as well..

edit: Dan, since you JUST posted while I was typing...if you DO go to HHN, be there *at* opening, NO later. It's your best chance to get through some attractions, unless you get one of those "skip the lines" passes...
*** Edited 10/1/2006 9:04:36 PM UTC by rollergator***

The best Halloween event of all is Knott's Scary Farm. Its damn good, damn scary and has plenty of nights where you can see all 12 mazes (some more than once) and a couple shows. If you really like Halloween events, this is the one to go to.

Maybe the talent needed time to warm up?

Knott's Scary Farm has the same problem, unless if you go on a Wednesday or Thursday, it gets waaay too crowded.

During the day I'll be hitting up IOA, and then heading over to universal for vip tour and then enjoying the halloween fun in the evening. I believe thats the plan for the day. I'll be going on a wednesday.