Ok, so I'll preface this by saying that for my very first HHN event, going to the TM preview probably wasn't the greatest idea, but I wanted to try it out before possibly buying a pass. The biggest thing is that I probably didn't temper my expectations to allow for a slightly understaff test night. That said, the short of it is that I was rather underwhelmed, even compared to Cedar Point's Halloweekends and Kings Island's Haunt.
My girlfriend made it as far as Mel's and just couldn't handle it, so she left and I was on my own (this also probably affected my enjoyment, but I'm used to doing parks solo). My first thought was that, while possibly a good idea, the free roaming of the hoards is going to be a little weak. I have gotten used to specific walk-through zones that have extremely dense fog and enjoyable/disorienting effects (Fright Zone and CarnEvil at Cedar Point specifically), and I found that the majority of the paths had unfortunately great visibility so there was very little surprise from the roaming hoards for the most part. The chainsaw gang was funny as I always seem to find that gag, and like usual I was not singled out for scares (part of me prefers that, so I can concentrate on watching people run screaming for their life from the actors
). On my way to the 9:15 Bill & Ted I walked through 3 different Hoards and were rather underwhelmed by all but the chainsaws.
Bill & Ted: Amazingly funny, exactly what I expected, could possibly be worth the price of a pass just to go see it a few more times. There were some moments I didn't care for (the Presidential rap battle came off as an endorsement of Obama rather than a humorous, unbiased skit which I thought it should have been), but overall a fantastic show that I want to see a few more times.
After B&T I wandered over to Walking Dead where I encountered the longest wait during the preview at an hour long. The line layout for this is ridiculous, and they had the line stretching almost back to one of the backstage security gates! Oh, and construction on both SS44 and Potter 2.0 was active, but nothing loud or heavy. I'm going to guess they won't use the super extended version I experienced except for their peak days, as it goes right into the backstage utility work and will instead use a lot of the switchbacks at the front they didn't use last night to keep the backstage construction areas away from prying eyes. As for the house itself, it was very long and fairly elaborate. Like someone mentioned earlier, it was pretty much your run of the mill zombie house with a popular theme. For the record, I've never watched the Walking Dead series. Overall grade; B+. Exiting into the zombie hoard was kind of cool, although again, the "free roaming" nature of the hoard made for a slightly underwhelming experience.
Next up was House of Horrors, and I was very much looking forward to this house. I was rewarded with walking the arduously long path backstage to find absolutely no line to speak of. My first thought upon entering the house was that it reminded me very much of the older Cedar Point houses in the decorative style, so I did feel kind of "at home" in a sense. I thought the execution in this house was wonderful, and the layout had some really good surprises with great scare points, including one which was completely different and unexpected. Overall, it was easily my favorite house of the night and gets an easy A from me. If I go back with a pass, I'm hoping the entrance being tucked away in the back of KidZone means I can do it with minimal waits.
The HoH exits through Barney and the entrance/line for Alice Cooper is literally on the other side of the rope, so of course I just did a 180 and walked the line to find a minimal 10 minute wait. I'm a big 80s music fan, so this was on my must-do list, and I was already happy with the short wait. Inside the house it is definitely a fast-changing, hard to follow mix of scenes, and even though I didn't really know the story for the house, it was still a lot of fun and my third best house of the night. It also reminded me of Club Blood at Cedar Point.
The exit for Alice Cooper conveniently dumped next to the Penn & Teller entrance, so my next choice was obvious, with a posted 30 minute wait. The line ended up being a little longer, and you realize just how huge the MIB building is when you walk the length of the back wall 5 or 6 times! The video for the line was ok, but not all that funny. Maybe I would have appreciated it more if I weren't sober (what is it with Halloween events and drinking)? I think the best part is when Penn is telling you about the 3D glasses. The entrance to the house was kind of cool with the toppled Vegas sign and the New(kd) Vegas sign behind it. The house is definitely very colorful and reminded me a bit of Disaster Transport's line (RIP) with some of the 3D. I thought the use of 3D was pretty solid for the house, and the lights were rather trippy even sober. The highlight is definitely the ending though, and I came out laughing rather hard at the groups behind and in front of me. Second best house of the night for me.
As I made my way from MIB back down by Mels to head to Silent Hill I noticed that the Hoards were completely gone by that time (about 12:15), so I was a bit disappointed (again, used to walking through zones that are staffed all the way until park closing at Cedar Point). It was starting to sprinkle by the time I got over to Silent Hill, so I decided that between the threat of rain and how tired I was, it would be my last. Again, I've never seen or played Silent Hill, so I wasn't very familiar with the franchise/story. However, I had heard and read plenty about how creepy the movies/games have been and was looking forward to what I hoped would be the first house to truly creep me out/scare me at a Halloween event since Happy Jacks at Cedar Point (you will never look at plush and dolls the same again). While it was a pretty impressive house in size and visuals, it wasn't as creepy as I was hoping/expecting. It did give me a few moments of pause, but nothing that made me yell, scream, or left an impression after exiting.
Overall it was a bit of an underwhelming night for me, and I can't decide if I want to get one of the passes and give it another shot during a "full" night, and to pick up Dead End and Gothic. It sounds like I may have ended up missing out on the two houses I would have enjoyed the most besides HoH, so that may push me to get a pass in the end. Also, the level of themeing around the park just seemed...non-existent. I remember walking through the park during the day in 2010 and seeing tons of cool-looking props in the zones and wishing I could get the time off and money to check it out. What I saw last night didn't seem to come close to that level. I think the most elaborate decorations were on the entrance arch. Comparing it to the only other Halloween park events I know (Halloweekends and Haunt), last night HHN came out at best even with them.