How Scary is HHNights? About This Page:

[joelsmom]

Okay, my near 21 year-old son with autism has long wanted to do Universal's Halloween Horror Nights. I, on the other hand, am much more of a MNSSHP type. However, we're casually chatting about a quick Orlando trip during my fall break. I proposed HHN for him and MNSSHP for me. He would prefer to focus on Universal/IOA and spend an extra day or two there. I might be persuaded, because I adore him, but I'd like to know from those of you who have attended, just how scary is HHN? I am not a fan of the idea of getting the wits scared out me all night long...just not my idea of the kind of "fun" for which I want to shell out $70 per person.

The entire trip might not happen. We're just chatting about the possibility of doing it. However, as always, I like to make the most informed decision.

Thanks in advance.

[Ashli]

It is extremely scary. (and gory) If you scare easily (or even not all that easily) and don't care for that feeling, then HHN probably isn't for you. At least, I wouldn't want to spend that kind of $ to stand in hour long lines for haunted houses I was going to want to close my eyes and run through. I hate to give this kind of response since you said your DS wants to go, but I want to be honest.

[joelsmom]

I was afraid of that (pun intended). Bummer. I don't necessarily scare easily, but I just don't understand the appeal. Gore wouldn't be a problem. Joel has watched videos, and he is just fascinated by it all...goody. He loves all that stuff, Michael Myers, the whole Halloween movie series.

Ah well, food for thought.

[Ashli]

Originally Posted by joelsmom

I was afraid of that (pun intended). Bummer. I don't necessarily scare easily, but I just don't understand the appeal. Gore wouldn't be a problem. Joel has watched videos, and he is just fascinated by it all...goody. He loves all that stuff, Michael Myers, the whole Halloween movie series.

Ah well, food for thought.

I LOVE scary, which is why I used to always go to HHN, but I do not love gory (including smells that go along with what you're seeing), which is why I eventually stopped going.

[Silvercat]

In my opinion - blooming terrifying! We've only done it once, and that was purely for the Alice Cooper house (DH is a big fan of AC). I don't watch horror films or TV series anyway, so most of the other houses were lost on me, but constantly being made to jump out of your skin as you are walking round the park just wore me out completely. They have a lot of scare actors around, who run towards you shrieking, or jump out at you from behind things, and although they aren't allowed to touch you, their actions are enough to frighten the beejezus out of you! The figures with the pumpkin heads, who ran at me shaking something rattly and loud - horrible!

We did have one humorous moment when DH was trying to avoid a stilt-walker dressed as death, and failed to see the gore-covered young lady crawling towards his ankles until she screamed at him - he swore and nearly fell over as he leapt a foot in the air!

But other than that, this definitely wasn't an evening we enjoyed, it was just too exhausting for us. Don't get me wrong, it is incredibly well done and exquisitely themed for those who are into things like The Walking Dead, and other media like that, and these events are tremendously popular too - they can be very crowded, which is something else to bear in mind.

Anyway, hope this helps, although it is a bit of a negative review - sorry!

[joelsmom]

So, it seems that the trip is on. The plan is as follows.

October 6 - Drive my mom to Griffin, GA, about 50 miles south of Atlanta, to visit with her brother and sister-in-law. Joel and I will stay overnight and head out the next morning.

October 7 - Drive on to Universal Orlando, arriving sometime mid-afternoon. Check into Cabana Bay and cruise through IOA during the early evening, using our bonus day on our buy 2 days, get a 3rd free UT tickets. Catch dinner somewhere and head back to the hotel for a good night's rest.

October 8 - Full park day, ending early, because this will be our HHN.

October 9 - Take advantage of separately purchased express pass to hit everything we want in both parks. Turn in reasonably early. I wouldn't bother with EP, but Joel really wants it, and he's got money he's willing to use to purchase it. We'll just have it this one day.

October 10 - Back to Georgia to pick up Mom and spend another night.

October 11 - Easy 4 hour drive home

I've decided that I'm going to make every effort to play like the scareactors don't scare me. Supposedly, the more you react, the more they come after you. It is all fake, after all. I think I can do this.

We're just going to wing it with dining, probably CS or City Walk.

So, here we go.

[Tyson61616]

I can't wait to hear about your trip. We are moving right by Universal/Disney and HHN is on top of our list to try this year.

[NanaTink]

Have a good time! We did HHN two different years and both were amazingly well done, and yes, scary! One humerous 'adventure' we had, we were winding our way through one of the haunted houses and there were some college-age young men behind us, acting all macho and ha-ha-ing through. "ha, I'm not scared," "gotta do better than this" so apparently the scarers decided to step it up. I ended up with 4 big strapping young guys GLUED to my back! (I'm 5'1") They stayed that way all the rest of the way, screaming like little girls. It was so funny I didn't have time to be scared in that haunted house. After our exit from the house, they quickly slunk off. I doubt they made any more such comments inside one of the haunted houses...

[joelsmom]

I booked everything today.

3 nights at Cabana Bay...October 7-10...had to take a family suite, because all standard rooms were gone...the literal price I pay for waiting...oh well...got it through Trivago, which did save us a few bucks over Universal's site

2 day park to park tickets, with 3rd day free purchased through Undercover Tourist

Halloween Horror Nights tickets and Express Pass tickets ordered through Universal itself...got the Coca Cola promo for HHN, which saved us about $30 - Joel actually paid for this stuff, since it was his preference to do these events. Believe me, he's got the money.

HHN, here we come!

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by joelsmom

I booked everything today.

3 nights at Cabana Bay...October 7-10...had to take a family suite, because all standard rooms were gone...the literal price I pay for waiting...oh well...got it through Trivago, which did save us a few bucks over Universal's site

2 day park to park tickets, with 3rd day free purchased through Undercover Tourist

Halloween Horror Nights tickets and Express Pass tickets ordered through Universal itself...got the Coca Cola promo for HHN, which saved us about $30 - Joel actually paid for this stuff, since it was his preference to do these events. Believe me, he's got the money.

HHN, here we come!

Congrats on the tickets, resort and HHNs! I'm looking forward to it as I'll be doing it on October 5th! I'm staying at Universal at the Royal Pacific for four nights from October 4-7.

[joelsmom]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

Congrats on the tickets, resort and HHNs! I'm looking forward to it as I'll be doing it on October 5th! I'm staying at Universal at the Royal Pacific for four nights from October 4-7.

We'll just miss each other. RPH would've been okay for us (and would've automatically given us Express Pass, but the only option for our stay dates was the presidential suite, let's just say a bit over my budget. It is a lovely place. We stayed there once before.

Have fun!

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by joelsmom

We'll just miss each other. RPH would've been okay for us (and would've automatically given us Express Pass, but the only option for our stay dates was the presidential suite, let's just say a bit over my budget. It is a lovely place. We stayed there once before.

Have fun!

It is a deluxe and a bit pricey but not crazy like the WDW deluxes and basically affordable like a typical deluxe outside of anywhere but WDW.

I was looking at the difference between Sapphire and RP and the Express Pass and it wasn't $89 and a good reason why I booked it. I think it was a bit over $200 for Sapphire and that does not include the EP, so I was sold. This is definitely a big selling point to stay here as well as being a great hotel.

I will be in Universal on your arrival day, which is my last full day. If we can meet up for a quick hello, that would be nice. As my last day here, it will be casual as just doing in USO what I didn't have time to do the other three days. You can PM me if you'd like and I may do as well!

I'm looking forward to my first ever stay at USO for certain!

[joelsmom]

I've just been browsing the Universal properties, to see if a standard room might open up, and it looks like they are completely booked, every resort, for our trip dates. I guess I'm lucky I got the family suite at Cabana Bay.

When we stayed at the Royal Pacific last summer, we walked to Cabana Bay one evening. Based on that, I feel like we'll just walk to City Walk in the morning, then decide in the evening whether we'd like the bus or just walk back. I like that walking path along the canal. Of course, the weather will play a factor, too.

Since we did get the family suite, we're thinking we might just pick up some things for breakfast and have that in the room. Our suite is in the courtyard buildings, which are closest to the exit and walk to the parks. So, all in all, I feel like we've got a decent plan.

If you've followed on other threads, you know we decided to do an early end to Universal on our last day and head to MNSSHP. I just couldn't help myself, and since we've only got to get back to Atlanta the next day, we can sleep a bit on Tuesday morning and head out about 10:00 AM.

It sometimes seems like we're packing a lot into 3 days, but the Universal parks are so compact, easy to navigate, and we aren't trying to do every attraction anyway. We just want to do hit our favorites and a few new things, like Kong, Jimmy Fallon, and the reimagined Hulk.

We leave in 31 days!

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by joelsmom

I've just been browsing the Universal properties, to see if a standard room might open up, and it looks like they are completely booked, every resort, for our trip dates. I guess I'm lucky I got the family suite at Cabana Bay.

When we stayed at the Royal Pacific last summer, we walked to Cabana Bay one evening. Based on that, I feel like we'll just walk to City Walk in the morning, then decide in the evening whether we'd like the bus or just walk back. I like that walking path along the canal. Of course, the weather will play a factor, too.

Since we did get the family suite, we're thinking we might just pick up some things for breakfast and have that in the room. Our suite is in the courtyard buildings, which are closest to the exit and walk to the parks. So, all in all, I feel like we've got a decent plan.

If you've followed on other threads, you know we decided to do an early end to Universal on our last day and head to MNSSHP. I just couldn't help myself, and since we've only got to get back to Atlanta the next day, we can sleep a bit on Tuesday morning and head out about 10:00 AM.

It sometimes seems like we're packing a lot into 3 days, but the Universal parks are so compact, easy to navigate, and we aren't trying to do every attraction anyway. We just want to do hit our favorites and a few new things, like Kong, Jimmy Fallon, and the reimagined Hulk.

We leave in 31 days!

You leave two days after I do as I'll be at the Royal Pacific from October 4-7. I'm doing HHN on the 5th. I check around on the RP to see just in case the rates come down, but there seems to be very limited if any availability for my days. Glad I booked this far in advance as I came close to losing out on my rate! Looking forward to USO as I haven't been here since 2009 as much has changed. I have four prior visits.