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11/11/2016

Experiencing HHN Hollywood in a Wheelchair

Sometimes life throws you a curve ball ... and such is the case that led up to this trip report. When you have to put things aside for awhile or experience things differently than you ever had before.

But on the flip side, sometimes when you have to do things a bit differently it gives you a chance to do a different kind of report if you're a blogger, and this is absolutely that kind of report.

Written by Gregg Condon

Some of you already know this, but for those that don't, in August my wife Kristi had to have major back surgery, her fourth major back surgery since 2008. Which has meant a big change in our theme park going life and which meant a HUGE change in our 2016 Haunt Season. So much so that it necessitated a cancellation of our first trip to HHN Orlando and Howl-O-Scream this October (don't worry, plans are already being made to go next October).

This also meant that our SoCal Haunt Season was very different, one of us couldn't do, well, anything and one of us felt incredibly guilty for doing things. Such is the nature of almost 21 years of marriage.

But, as luck has it, Universal Hollywood extended their event for the second time this year which meant that she was well enough to go to the event, but would have to do so in a wheelchair. Not only due to the walking, but to help control any scary "jerky" motions in mazes.

So hopefully this report will be beneficial to somebody who may want to do HHN 2017 but has otherwise been wondering if they can do so. So we'll DEFINITELY be re-running this update next October, well, September. ;)

I'll also point out that we did attend Fright Fest in October but at the time it was kind of a "test" so we only did the Scare Zones and Aftermath 2. But all indications are that that event and I'm sure every other theme park event would be just as awesome to navigate for somebody in a wheelchair.

Wheelchair view ... a bit different

Once we arrived at the park we picked up our Front of the Line passes and headed into the park. You don't need to have a Front of the Line pass to do the event in a Wheelchair, they will simply give you a return time at each maze, but we were able to get Front of the Line passes at the last minute, so we did. And it made the night awesome.

Our first stop of the night was Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and if you saw our initial HHN review you'll remember this was down at the bottom of the list. Not so much this time. Such is the curse of going on opening night as you'll see in this report.

We had a great time in this maze and because I was pushing her and not worrying about picture taking and filming I got to enjoy the maze and see all of the amazing detail in all of them.

Next up was The Walking Dead which we've of course done before, which also turned out to be the easiest maze to navigate due to it's permanent nature. It was also the only time ALL NIGHT that I ran over somebody's foot (one of the security guards in the maze). Sorry about that.

Because it was the last night of HHN they were running a test and had Wizarding World open. Because we hadn't tried the hot Butterbeer yet, well, duh, we had to spend some time having Butterbeer and dessert because we didn't think Butterbeer would go very well with Fish n Chips. Grandma would be proud that we had dessert first.

One of the other HHN experiences that was kind of low on our list from opening night was Terror Tram. First off, the tram attendants are AMAZING when it comes to guests in wheelchairs. So HUGE kudos to all of them.

The other thing we noticed very early in the night were the monsters were actively going after Kristi. A LOT. I can't count how many times she got her "throat slit" during our night, but it was at least 25-30.

The Terror Tram also produced the best "scare" we had at any event all year. We were going through one of the "rooms" and came out and got bombarded by chainsaws from three different directions. It was amazing. Too bad we weren't filming.

After a quick dinner in Springfield we made our way downstairs. Because Kristi is mobile enough to use the Starway we went that route to leave the shuttle for those who aren't able to transfer out. It was interesting taking an empty wheelchair down but after the first level we had no problems.

Down on the backlot mazes we were able to do Krampus and Freddy vs Jason 2 times each, both were AMAZING and FvJ in particular was so much more improved than opening night. So much so that it was probably my second favorite maze of the night, after Krampus.

AHS was also really solid again, but I really would love to see them just limit it to one season of the show. I'd love to see it come back and go that route in 2017.

After a quick break down on the lower lot we made our way through Exorcist, and this was the only maze all night I actually ran into a wall pushing the wheelchair. It's just REALLY dark in this maze and I literally had no idea where I was going. But it was funny and we all laughed.

Oh, and the maze was of course amazing.

Last but not least was Halloween which was, duh, amazing.

Going up the starway with the Wheelchair was significantly easier than going down.

We spent some time going through The Purge which was literally on fire that night, being the last night there's just a different kind of energy, this is true for all Halloween events.

I really hope they bring the concept of the "Gauntlet of Fear" back in 2017. It was a test that worked out REALLY well and everybody seemed to enjoy it. I just hope the theme is something actually "horror" based next year. Would be a GREAT fit for the Shawn of the Dead scarezone again (hint, hint).

Overall our night of going to HHN in a Wheelchair was a VERY positive experience. There were only a couple of times we got stuck or ran into lots of hanging corpses (FvJ) but all of the staff in every maze, in every line, at the tram was amazing. You can tell that HHN and Universal goes above and beyond when it comes to taking care of all their guests.

And because in some mazes there were parts where I literally couldn't see in front of me, it turned out monsters were kind of waiting for us, which was of course amazing.

Yes, parks are required to be accessible due to the ADA but you can tell Universal has taken special care to go even beyond that. And it's very much appreciated.

Thanks for reading and we hope this report will help some of you as you make plans for next years Halloween season.

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11/10/2016

Photo tour of Islands of Adventure

Happy Thursday and welcome to our second photo tour of Universal Orlando Resort. On Tuesday we looked at Universal Studios Florida and today we're going to hop on the Hogwarts Express and take a look at Islands of Adventure.

So much new fun stuff at this park and Matt has captured it all. Enjoy!!

Pictures by Matthew Nelson

Welcome to Islands of Adventure

Wizarding World East

Jurassic Hogwarts

One of the most amazing lands

Splash!!

Smash

Sunset over Hogwarts

Chance of Reign

Dueling ... :(

Oooooh Fuuuuudge

Teeny Tiny Lockers

Sam I Am

Miss Oates!!

Technically still in IOA

You WILL get wet .... we mean Soaked

Best Ride EVER

And On And On And On

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11/9/2016

Fun at the Universal Orlando Fun Run

In a world of RunDisney races (even one held last weekend in Orlando) sometimes you just want to do something a bit different, and less crowded.

So with that in mind Renée took on the Universal Orlando Fun Run last weekend which from the looks of it gave the runners a pretty empty course through the two Universal Orlando parks. Check out all the fun times.

Written by Renée Girard

Why are we at Universal before the sun is up?