Our 1st Proper Halloween - Universal Leg **COMPLETE 1/10** About This Page:

[Big Sister]

Originally Posted by pamcarey

I can tell by what you've shown that I would NOT want to go to Universal Halloween Horror Night (or whatever it's called). MNSSHP is more my speed.

Originally Posted by chezp

I would so never want to go to the Halloween Horror Nights - definitely not my sort of thing, far too scary!

Does that mean that next time I attend a HHN, that I've got no takers if Nest can't come with?

[Big Sister]

A FRIENDLY WARNING
As this is a family-orientated community, I've censored the following entry, as the Halloween Horror Nights weren't for young children or the faint of heart. What I've left, still may conjure up scary images though. If they don't, then I've included some photos to help you out

Saturday, 29 September 2012: 'Front of Line' Halloween Horror Night


Today we got up at 1pm, as we were so tired from previous night Despite having had ten hours sleep, our feet were still sore. (From past experience, they have always recovered after a night's rest.) For the next six hours, we took it really easy and relaxed in our room, so we'd have the energy to attend that night's Halloween Horror Night. During that time, we watched tele, wrote our journals, and looked out at the view.

For a very late lunch, we ordered room service. Nest had:

· California Caesar salad: roasted yellow beetroot, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, croutons with caesar dressing (for a salad, this looked so delicious!);
· Chicken spaghetti with parmesan cheese and garlic bread (this dish smelt sooooooooooo yummy! ); and,
· A strawberry milkshake (Nest said it was so good, and had a strawberry caramel taste to it)

I had:

· A massive bowl of soup consisting of big chunks of beef, noodles, broccoli flowerettes, and red peppers; and,
· A freshly made watermelon juice (very refreshing)

As time for the Halloween Horror Night drew near, we could see the crowds amassing down below, not to mention the traffic building up and up.

At one stage during the evening, we saw it all part way for an ambulance trying to get to one of the side gates. Looking through our big lenses to get a closer look, we were relieved to see that the patient seemed ok - he was sitting up on the stretcher at least, so that was a promising sign. (We didn't take a photo - we just wanted to see what was going on, hoping that it wasn't anything too serious.)

We went down and joined the madness some time around 7pm. Tonight we had a 'Front of Line' pass for the Halloween Horror Night, which allowed us to go to the front of each attraction line just once that night. If we wanted to do anything more than once, then we'd have to line up in the scary long normal lines As we had done everything last night, including visiting our favourite mazes more than once, we decided to devote this night to photography first , and then use our front of line passes at each attraction, before calling it a night no matter what the time was, as we had a small matter of needing to pack still , in preparation for tomorrow.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a 'Front of Line' option for the 'Front of Line' queue to get into the park, so we had a little wait on our hands. Eventually it was our turn to go through security, before we could go through the turnstiles and pick up our 'Front of Line' passes (I had to ask for them, as the attendant hadn't noticed the option marked on our tickets.)

Finally, we were in the safe foggy section immediately inside the entrance, just before the Clownz scare zone. Nest set up his tripod and camera, while I kept inside the safety zone and made a video (which turned out pretty crap - LOL! I don't know what it is with me and technology.)

Next photography goal, was to photograph the scare zones. Naturally, the Clownz one was first, seeing as we were right in front of it. My videos turned out even worse than the entrance video, as it was so dark in this area, but at least I tried Next time, I'll know to have it on night vision.

The next scare zone we went to, was the Toyz one. We hadn't familiarised ourselves with it last night, and it turned out to be my most favourite one - it was so awesome! Ordinary everyday toys such as a plush rabbit, ballerina, and doll, had been given a horror makeover, and were running about scaring whoever ventured into their territory. For most of the time, all you could see when you went down this street, were dark shadows moving about, as the lights had been permanently turned off for the event. It was only when strobe lights would periodically flash on, did you see exactly what was around you - it was so effective, scare-wise, and I was so joyous when my video captured this, albeit only for a second or two. My favourite character was the rabbit, and I couldn't believe he was carrying a chainsaw! I remember saying to Nest, "Oh look - there's a rabbit with a chainsaw!", something I never imagined I'd ever say (or see!) I asked Nest to get a photo of him for me. The rabbit eventually noticed what we were up to, and each time Nest raised his camera, the rabbit would walk towards him, and stop whenever Nest took his camera down. Nest has an awesome series of photos of this scary giant rabbit shape getting closer and closer to him in the dark. Nest raised his camera one last time, and the rabbit took it's last few steps until they were standing virtually nose-to-nose. The resulting portraits are absolutely awesome, and I was also quick enough to get a shot off myself, of the two of them standing together. Later on, I noticed the rabbit interacting with a small child (I didn't think people under 13 were admitted to this event), and wondered if they would get nightmares that night.

I stopped wondering when I was caught unawares by the scary ballerina (a bald man dressed up in a leotard and tutu - it sounds funny, but it wasn't funny at the time ) I eventually took refuge by a zombie filled carriage being pulled by a skeleton horse.

The last scare zone we went to in the Upper Lot, was the Witches one, which turned out to be the least threatening of the three (most probably due to the lack of chainsaws ) Like with the Toyz scare zone, the Witches one was in complete darkness save for the occasional flash of strobe light, and full of fog. It was heavily populated with witches, who we observed would crouch down in the middle of the street, and jump up waving tambourines and muttering mumbo jumbo whenever someone would walk nearby them. It was fun to see how different people would react. This street also featured a horse and carriage, but this time, there were witches as passengers, and a huge werewolf on top.

Once Nest had photographed this zone, we went to the International Cafe at the entrance of the zone, for refreshments. I was ecstatic on discovering that they sold cheese danishes, and knew immediately what my refreshment would consist of Nest also got a bottle of water and cheese danish, plus a chocolate brownie with nuts for good measure We found a wall nearby to perch on and eat while watching the world go by (which included a heavy police presence. We could tell they were the real thing, as they weren't carrying chainsaws like the ones we came across the previous night on the Terror Tram )

Speaking of the Terror Tram, that was the first ticketed attraction we went on that night after our refreshments, due to its constantly high popularity and the fact it closes earlier than the other attractions. The only way tonight's experience differed from last night's, was that the tram took us directly to the drop off point, we by-passed the Psycho house option, and when we were walking along part of the track, someone shouted at everyone to keep away from Nest and I, as we were wearing flashing skull necklaces we had bought at the entrance to the park, as it would attract the walkers (I was soon to find out how true this was.) Nest and I eventually found ourselves at the back of the particular pack we were in after this As Nest walks faster than me due to his longer legs, we became separated in the War of the Worlds area. It was really weird being literally alone in that area at night. Soon I realised I wasn't alone, with walkers coming towards me from all directions That guy was right when he said our lit necklaces would attract the walkers, and I sound found myself surrounded by three of them Thankfully, all they seemed interested in was my light-up skull, but I still called out to Nest, who thought I had been directly behind him the entire time

After that close shave, we caught the tram back to the park, and headed towards the Lower Lot. On our way, we saw a queue had formed for a show called Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure. As we hadn't seen it before, therefore didn't know anything about it, we popped in for a look-see using our Front of Line passes. Taking a seat right up the back to avoid any possible audience participation , we watched random funny videos while waiting for the theatre to fill up and the show to begin. Memorable videos were:

· A male athlete pole vaulting, and accidentally sitting on the end of the pole in mid air (that drew such a simultaneous groan from all the guys in the audience!);
· A drunk man undertaking a sobriety test then being questioned by two policemen. The drunk then pees on one of the policemen, with the other one pinning him in a headlock. I couldn't believe they didn't guess what he was up to sooner! Everyone laughed in disbelief, none-the-less;
· A boxer attempting to upper-cut his opponent, missing, and getting himself instead; and,
· A model walking on her ankles a couple of times before falling, as her heels were just too ridiculously high.

The show started with a whole lot of costumed performers singing and dancing to excerpts of current popular songs, such as one about a doctor by Nicky Minaj (I'm not exactly totally up-to-date with my popular culture), Scream by Usher, an instrumental from The Full Monty (not exactly current, I know) and the highly recognisable and infectious Gangnam Style by Psy, which Nest and I are both huge fans of.

After all the singing and dancing (which Nest has never been a huge fan of ), it was on with the show. This year's show was based on The Hunger Games series, while still loosely keeping with the plot of the Bill and Ted movies. I don't know anything about The Hunger Games series, but soon got the gist of it, none-the-less. The contestants were famous movie and historic characters, such as Agent J from Men in Black, Abraham Lincoln, President Obama, Fozzy Bear, Justin Beiber, and Old Man Jenkins from Family Guy. A Kirsten Stewart character dressed as Snow White, kept on trying to join in, but immediately got knocked out on each attempt, which the audience always seemed pleased about (she doesn't seem like the most popular person on the planet at the moment.)

Bill and Ted came on the scene in their telephone booth time machine, and entered the games. To help them out like in the original Bill & Ted movie, they're given an iPhone, which brought on laughter (as obviously they weren't given an iPhone in the actual movie ... unfortunately, I can't remember the piece of technology they were given. Perhaps it was an item we now take for granted, but was a big deal at the time.) The battle starts, and soon after, the witch controlling the games gets all the characters to verse Bill and Ted, instead of each other. In an effort to defeat Bill and Ted, the witch sets the forest on fire. Bill and Ted call some firemen using their iPhone, but instead of real firemen, adult dance versions turn up A woman was pulled from the audience and seated on the stage, where the firemen danced all around her.

The show itself ended with all the characters returning to the stage, singing and dancing, accompanied by pyrotechnics. Overall, we enjoyed the show, finding that the writers had pretty much the same opinions and sense of humour in regards to popular culture as we did.

Continued on our way to the Lower Lot, our first order of business being for Nest to photograph the monsters in the Silent Hill scare zone. This took a while, as there didn't seem to be as many of them around this night as there had been the previous night. Perhaps it had something to do with it being way too crowded for the two kinds of stilt monsters to safely operate in the area. After a long time waiting and successfully capturing the undead nurses, the stilted monsters came out. I thought Nest did a great job, taking into consideration the hoards of people and lack of light.

Photography goals reached, we then went and visited the Texas Chainsaw maze. Thankfully, it wasn't as smelly at the entrance this time round. Nest mentioned in his journal, that this time round, he noticed that "some dude was cooking dodgy meat". Unfortunately, this detail eluded me, but it must've taken place somewhere in the gas station store.

After the Texas Chainsaw maze, it was straight on over to the Silent Hill maze. The bathroom scene became etched in my memory that night, as the excrement smell in there this time was so bad, that I almost threw up! It seriously smelt as if someone had done a really bad poop, and then put it in front of a hot fan! Eeeeeeeewey!

As this night was the last time we'd be in the park for years, I then went on Jurassic Park River Adventure and Revenge of the Mummy, while Nest minded my stuff in the arcade. (Nest felt he had over-indulged in the rides, where-as I can never get enough of them.) While I was riding solo, Nest got $10 worth of tokens and played the mini claw machine, scoring this really cute white and grey lemur with a yellow tail, who makes a really cute chattering noise.

Lower Lot complete, we then returned to the Upper Lot. The starway had had a makeover for the Halloween Horror Nights, in that it had a new soundtrack for the night event. In a stern deep voice, it told us things like, "Shut the hell up", not to ask it directions, as that's why we were given maps for, and not to sit on the stairs, or it will chew your arse

Back in the Upper Lot, we visited the remaining mazes: Alice Cooper Goes to Hell (3D), The Walking Dead, La Llarona, and Universal Monsters Re-Mixed ... and then we called it a night Outside the park, we stopped to take photos of the green and orange entrance ...

... before returning to our hotel, where we immediately ordered room service, as we hadn't eaten since our late lunch. Nest got:

· Nachos, with blue, green and yellow corn chips - it was such a colourful dish!; and,
· Chicken and cheese quesadillas with three different dips - guacamole, sour cream, and chilli.

I stuck to a Californian Caesar salad with beef - it was just the balance I was after - not too heavy, and not too light ... and extremely delicious!

After having had a wonderful time at the Halloween Horror Night, then the treat of a lovely meal, we then had to do what we had been avoiding all day, and pack our suitcases in preparation for the following day's change of location. Nest finished packing ages before me - I was so envious! One of these days, hopefully I'll learn how easy it is to place objects in a suitcase I don't know what time it was exactly by the time I got to bed, I just know it was waaaaaaaaaaaay past 2am, as the park entrance lights had gone out, and all the crowds had dissipated.

Next entry: Setting sail down the Pacific Coast on the Disney Wonder!

[chezp]

The more I read about Halloween Horror Nights, I just know they are not me at all. I'm looking forward to hearing all about being on the Wonder.

[pamcarey]

More creepy pictures from the party !! Your salad looked really yummy! Looking forward to hearing about the cruise!

[mushu22]

Great of HHN

[Big Sister]

Originally Posted by mushu22

Great of HHN

Thanks loads!

Originally Posted by chezp

The more I read about Halloween Horror Nights, I just know they are not me at all. I'm looking forward to hearing all about being on the Wonder.

Originally Posted by pamcarey

More creepy pictures from the party !! Your salad looked really yummy! Looking forward to hearing about the cruise!

My first cruise entry is hot off the press over in the crusing section - click here for a shortcut

[Big Sister]

PS - Here's the souvenir photo of Jurassic Park I mentioned in an earlier post, when Nest was seated next to somebody's awesome granny

[clio]

I don't think I would have liked Universal's Halloween party. It's a little too intense for me.
Liz

[Big Sister]

Originally Posted by clio

I don't think I would have liked Universal's Halloween party. It's a little too intense for me.
Liz

Yes, it certainly was a very intense (but awesome) experience! I totally understand how it's not everyones cup of tea though.