First time ever doing a Universal Halloween Horror Night - and I was dreading doing it as I hate scare attractions.
But WOW. Universal do them so well. 9 houses in total and we did them over 4 nights as we were fortunate enough to be staying on site. Most queues - unless you went in early - were 70 mins at least. Going in early might get 1 house done quicker - but has the disadvantage of the chainsaw wielding clowns in the various areas of the park not being as scary or hidden from you.
One walk through area of the park, just next to MIB was a Haunted Hollow type area. Our first night we walked through in pitch black. Trees came to life, girls dressed as goblin/fairy creatures jumped out on you from nowhere. Guys were dressed in proper bush type camouflage so the bushes would randomly attack you - all whilst walking through a heavily fogged area. Terrifying in the dark - rubbish during daylight as all the effects were ruined. So we made the decision every night to hold off going early and properly appreciate it in the dark.
They also sell alcohol in the park - I was really drunk most nights - as mentioned I hate scare attractions but the alcohol certainly helped calm the nerves.
First night we did:
25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem. 10/10. My favourite of them all. Probably as it was my first house and I didn't know what to expect. But there was no one monster in here. Jack the Clown, killer statues, killer santas, a freakin BEAR and all sorts leap out on you. Then you exit at the end into the safety of the daylight - and one last chainsaw wielding butcher leaps out on you.
The Walking Dead. 2/10. Pretty poor actually. All zombies as you would expect. Very few jump scares and more just walking around and watching the zombies shuffle towards you.
And that was the first night. We'd flown in at 4pm from Glasgow so by that point it was 10pm US time or 3am UK time so we were really tired.
2nd Night:
Asylum in Wonderland 3D. 5/10. Basically Alice in Wonderland. Crazy neon painted sets. Entrance was really good with the old revolving tunnel effect to make you disorientated. However this one involved wearing 3d glasses - whilst it brought a lot of set painting to life, the house is still pretty dark so when someone jumps out on you (usually the Mad Hatter) you couldn't really see him enough to get a scare - the actors categorically will not touch you.
The Purge. 10/10. So so so so well done. Sirens going off to announce the start of the Purge. Random plastic mask faced people leaping out on you. A scene where a girls kills her sister - very graphic.
Run. 5/10. Based on a gameshow where you have to go through without people killing you. A modern 'Running Man'. No real theming as such. As the actors don't chase or touch you you never really feel like you're under threat at all.
Night 3.
On this night the heavens completely opened and we got drenched through. Met a lovely German couple in the queue for our first house of the evening and the girl had no idea what any house was like.
An American Werewolf in London. 8/10. The German girl behind me gave me multiple bruises and her screams nearly burst my eardrums. A great house, the wolf looked incredibly real although a lot of the scares came from the Police jumping out on you to "protect" you.
Body Collectors. 8/10. A renewal of a prior year's house apparently. You enter a mental asylum in the winter. Complete with fake snow coming down on you. Really well done. Patients and doctors jumping out around every turn.
Night 4.
Freddy v Jason. 10/10. I got really drunk before this one. I saw the original Nightmare on Elm Street when I was 5 years old due to a grandparent not realising what kind of film it is. This was my Everest. I was terrified before I even went in.
You start off at Camp Crystal Lake where Jason attacks you multiple times. After that you enter the house on Elm Street - complete with 2 very young twin girls skipping outside singing the Freddy rhyme. Their parents must have been very understanding! Freddy attacks you, Jason attacks you, they attack each other. Brilliant.
Insidious. 10/10. Queued 3 hours for this one. Outstanding. The 'house' looks identical to the house in the movie. The demon pops up regularly. The old lady pops up regularly.
All in all I'd 100% go back. My only let down is that it's not groups of 6-10 at a time. Obviously due to time reasons. Instead it's just one continuous chain of people / victims. So I knew Jason was going to jump out up ahead because I'd seen him do it to the person 10 ahead of me.
