Park Journey
Menu

Opening night at Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood

9/19/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Last Friday was the grand kick-off of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood and we were there to experience the entire event and to get some great pics and video for you all to enjoy. 
​
Overall this is definitely one of the stronger years for Halloween Horror Nights and we've also included our maze and experience rankings below.

Keep in mind our rankings (as with anybody's rankings) are purely subjective and only reflect our personal experience. Enjoy! 

Pictures, Video and Written by Gregg Condon
Additional Pictures by Richard M Johnson
Welcome to Halloween Horror Nights (look closely and you may spot a celebrity) 
Picture
Overflow queue for The Walking Dead that they didn't need opening weekend. Will be interesting to see if this is still here this weekend. 
Picture
Picture
Our full walk-through and 360° video of The Walking Dead from the opening earlier this year. 

We had heard from multiple people that there would be more talent in TWD than there is during the day, we didn't notice any additional people from normal park hours, and we did the walk-through twice. 
Fire good 
Picture
Picture
If you read our Survival Guide you'll know that you should start your night on the backlot mazes. 
Picture
Mmmm ... Fog. 
Picture
This year there is no tram to the backlot mazes which means 3 mazes down there instead of 2. It's not a bad walk at all. 
Picture
Picture
Purge Tunnel 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Note to the girl in front of us ... after stopping and asking the 20th actor to take a picture with you and they don't, it's time to just give it up. =) 
Picture
Which leads into a Purge scarezone 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Video of the Purge tunnel, scarezone and Gauntlet of Fear (more on that below) 
Picture

Our first maze of the night was Krampus and it didn't disappoint at all. 

The movie is a LOT of fun and the maze is as well. Since the movie was made by Mike Dougherty (who made the classic Trick R Treat) hopefully that means we'll get that maze one of these years. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Full walkthrough of the Krampus maze. 

Beautiful tribute to the late Wes Craven 
Picture
Really loved the setting of Freddy vs Jason but we got stopped for about 4 minutes in one spot so decided not to post the video.

Overall the crowd control was much better at HHN this year than previous years, this was the only maze we got stopped for a long time (other than Terror Tram ... more on that below)
Picture
Picture

Next up was American Horror Story. Now I'll freely admit that neither one of us were familiar with the show. I've tried getting into the show multiple times but somehow just haven't been able to. 

​That being said, we both enjoyed the maze much more than we thought we would. 

Will add that as a non-fan, if the entire maze would have just been the "Freak Show" season we may have enjoyed it much more. That section was a lot of fun. 
Picture
Below is our full walkthrough of American Horror Story. 

Those who know me know that the original Halloween maze back in 2009 is one of my favorite mazes ever, not just at Halloween Horror Nights, but at any event. It wasn't just based on a single movie but had lots of great stuff from multiple films. 

Last year Michael Myers came back and it was just based on the original Halloween. And it was AMAZING. There were some liberties taken with the ending of the maze which was totally fine because it worked. 

​Fast forward to this year, and Michael Myers is back again, but this time the maze is based on Halloween 2. There are so many touches from the movie here and it's amazing. But again, there are some liberties taken with the last 1/4 of the maze and it simply WORKS. And works well. 
Picture
Picture
Below is our full walk through of Halloween ... maybe next year we'll get a Halloween 3 maze? (Guessing the fans of that one would be very small, but we'd love it)

Our last maze on the lower lot was The Exorcist. 

Now, I've been doing Halloween events for close to 30 years. My first memory of doing an event was at the old "Factory of Nightmares" that used to be at Devonshire Downs in the San Fernando Valley (aging myself here). So it takes a LOT for me to get scared in a maze. 
Picture
When I was about 10 I remember watching The Exorcist at a friends house, and I remember it scaring the crap out of me. So that certainly could have contributed to my anticipation/the amount of times I got freaked out in this maze. 
Picture
Safe to say, this was the most I've ever screamed in any maze ever. We decided not to edit this at all so you can enjoy all the screams that we got in this amazing maze. This was definitely our favorite of the night. 

Next up was the Terror Tram. Because they hadn't tried to shoehorn an existing franchise into the area we were very much looking forward to it. 
Picture
A look down at the backlot mazes and Purge scare zone 
Picture
Picture
Some great talent as you head down the escalator 
Picture
As you head down to the Bates Motel you are treated to an amazing introductory video that sets up the story for you. And it's absolutely fabulous. 

As you reach Whoville the theme starts to take shape and the first part of Terror Tram was pretty amazing. 
Picture
Unfortunately once you reach the Psycho house the amazing set up is forgotten due to some small area's where you are herded through the rest of the area like cattle. 

We love the idea of having walk-through maze parts of the Terror Tram but the bottleneck here is so severe that it makes it hard to get scared through the entire 2nd half of the experience. 
Overall, this is EASILY the best "theme" for Terror Tram ever, unfortunately the execution is a bit lacking in a few parts. Let's hope they figure out the crowd control and bottleneck issues before this weekend. Because we'd love to see it be successful. 

Be sure to check out some great pictures below of the Terror Tram 
The Deer are the scariest part 
Picture

We didn't get a chance to check out Jabawockeez this year, but our good friend Richard did so be sure to check out the amazing pics below. 
Picture
Photos: Richard M. Johnson

Note: The Purge isn't scary ... 

That being said, the Gauntlet of Fear was probably one of the more pleasant surprises of the event. Again, not scary, but a great utilization of the area and something that they should definitely keep in mind for future years and different actual scary themes. 
Picture
Picture
Be sure to check out our slideshow of The Purge Gauntlet of Fear 
Obvious movie cross promotion ... 
Picture
The entire park scare zone had one theme this year, and was all The Purge. Nothing really different here than previous years, lots of Chainsaws and fire and girls ... not like those are bad things AT ALL. 

​But it would be nice if The Purge would get purged next year. We love the original scare zones they've had in years past and would love for those to come back. 

Some more awesome pictures of The Purge scare zone on the upper lot 

Our last maze of the night was Texas Chainsaw Massacre which was located near Waterworld. 

I'm not the biggest fan of TX Chainsaw Massacre but it was a decent maze. This one did suffer from "repeated scares syndrome". Hallway, Room, Chainsaw, Hallway, Room, Chainsaw ... but it's TX Chainsaw Massacre so ... 
Picture

Overall we had an amazing night at Halloween Horror Nights. The good definitely outweighs the "ok" (there is nothing really BAD this year) and are hoping we hear about some of the crowd control issues in Terror Tram being addressed soon. Because we really did love the theme of it. 
Picture
Picture
Below are our maze rankings 
Picture
#1 - Will admit that this maze greatly depends on "timing" and we hit ALL of it. Hands down the most "scares" I've ever had in a maze.
Picture
#4 - Despite not knowing the show this maze was really fun. If this was the "Freak Show" Season only it might have moved this up to #3.
Picture
#6 - Didn't notice any extra monsters but still fun and worth going through if you don't have a USH AP.
Picture
#8 - Despite "standing in one spot for 5 minutes" the maze was great. This maze is potentially great but we can only judge on our own experience.
Picture
#2 - If possible this version is even better than last year, and pumpkin spice brain is awesome
Picture
#3 - A fun fun movie makes a fun fun maze. Definitely not to be missed.
Picture
#5 - The best theme Terror Tram has EVER had. Addressing crowd control issues for 2nd half might move this up to #4.
Picture
#7 - Truly the one pleasant surprise of the night. While not "scary" we had a lot of fun in the "Gauntlet of Fear"
Picture
#9 - Not bad by any stretch, and it was opening weekend, but with so much good stuff, something had to be at the bottom.
We want to thank Universal Studios for having us out to enjoy the event, we can't wait to hopefully get back towards the end of the season for another go-round. 

Did you experience HHN over the weekend? Be sure to share your thoughts below. 

Related Updates: 
  • Opening of Halloween Horror Nights 2016 at Universal Orlando 
  • American Horror Story coming to Halloween Horror Nights
  • Universal Orlando unleashes amazing details for HHN26 
  • Krampus coming to Halloween Horror Nights
  • The Exorcist coming to Halloween Horror Nights


​If you enjoyed this update please share with your friends and make sure you "like" us on Facebook and "follow" us on Twitter and Instagram. 

If you have any comments, please share them below
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Categories

    All
    2014 Attractions
    2015 Attractions
    2016 Attractions
    2017 Attractions
    2018 Attractions
    2019 Attractions
    2020 Attractions
    2021 Attractions
    Bourne Stuntacular
    Cabana Bay
    Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem
    Diagon Alley
    Dreamworks Theater
    Epic Universe
    Eyegore Awards
    Fast And Furious: Supercharged
    Grinchmas
    Halloween Horror Nights
    Harry Potter
    Harry Potter And The Escape From Gringotts
    Harry Potter And The Forbidden Journey
    Hogwarts
    Hulk
    Islands Of Adventure
    Jurassic Park
    Jurassic World
    Lunar New Year
    Mario Kart: Koopa's Challenge
    Minions
    Nintendo
    Nye
    Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon
    Reign Of Kong
    Secret Life Of Pets: Off The Leash
    Simpsons
    Springfield
    Studio Tour
    Super Nintendo World
    The Incredible Hulk Coaster
    The Voice
    The Walking Dead
    Transformers: The Ride
    Universal Cinema
    Universal Citywalk
    Universal Orlando
    Universal Running
    Universal Studios Florida
    Universal Studios Hollywood
    Universal Studios Japan
    Volcano Bay
    Wizarding World

    Archives

    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Six Flags
  • Cedar Fair
  • Universal Studios
  • Disney Parks
  • SeaWorld Parks
  • Other Parks
  • Beyond The Parks
  • The Other Side of the Tracks
  • Industry News
  • Cruise Journey
  • Park Journey Shop
  • Theme Park Art
  • Past Updates
    • 2019 Updates
    • 2018 Updates
    • 2017 Updates
    • 2016 Updates
    • 2015 Updates
    • 2013 and 2014 Updates
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Six Flags
  • Cedar Fair
  • Universal Studios
  • Disney Parks
  • SeaWorld Parks
  • Other Parks
  • Beyond The Parks
  • The Other Side of the Tracks
  • Industry News
  • Cruise Journey
  • Park Journey Shop
  • Theme Park Art
  • Past Updates
    • 2019 Updates
    • 2018 Updates
    • 2017 Updates
    • 2016 Updates
    • 2015 Updates
    • 2013 and 2014 Updates
  • Contact Us