I'd hate to be the workers at Universal on Friday, imagine how many angry people they had to deal with (although, they did have a right to be angry). My review for hhn 2018 will come soon.
I was at the haunted hayride on Friday, and the thunderstorm triggered a power outage, but the attractions remained open.
Haunted Hayride 2018 review - Overall a good year, not as good as last year, but still fun. They got rid of the opening ceremony in favor of a new set piece. This year felt like they took money from the hayride and put it into the other attractions. I still had an awesome time, and I would recommend going.
Hayride- There was no theme this year, which was mildly disappointing. Very random scenes, that didn't relate to each other at all. The set pieces felt a lot cheaper and less original. There was less shock factor. I never got scared. The set pieces were still fun to look at, and the best ones were the battle of the bands, the temple, and the goat room. You can tell the actors work really hard. They also got rid of the walking part, which was my favorite part from last year. They also got rid of the falling bodies, and the tarp, which were two new things from last year that I thought they would keep. It also felt a lot shorter. Still a fun experience, but doesn't come close to the greatness of last year. 5/10
Trick or Treat - This was a lot better this year than last year, and it occasionally had some scary parts. This is one of those things that's as fun as you make it. Had some cool sets, and felt a lot longer than last year. It was a cool experience knocking on the door, and not knowing who would come out. The best houses were the dog house and the house you walked through. 7/10
House of Shadows - About a ten times better than last year. They just changed a couple of things and it made a huge difference. The first time I was happy with black walls
. This year in they had different costumes, which was fun. Last year all the costumes were the same. This led to a more suspenseful experience. They also had more actors toward the end, which led to a very cool ending. Also, every little bit they had a themed room (school, hospital, playground, etc.) These rooms were fun and genuinely creepy. The opening video with the zombie is still very random. The strobe lights are still annoying as hell. 7/10
Purgatory - This shouldn't be considered an attraction. It is just a scare zone with some decorations and a few actors. The actors were cool, but there were only around 5, so it was hard to be scared by the same actors again and again. They tried their best to be scary, but it didn't work. There were some really cool set pieces, including three giant pumpkin things, some corn, and broken cars. They also had a short tunnel filled with fog with a monster inside. This was my favorite part, but I would still rather have the opening ceremony. The games and the physic were overpriced and didn't look very fun. The show was very funny. 4/10.