Halloween Horror Nights 32 (UOR) - Reviews, Photos, & Videos

[Freak]

So I was able to fly out here and do two nights with Express of HHN! I did stay and scream for the first night and then stayed at IoA for a little bit and entered HHN close to seven the second night. Going to go right into it and review the houses in order of what I accomplished. Since this is pretty late into the event’s run, I don’t think people care about spoilers at this point. Let’s get into it!

Stranger Things: So after hearing how quickly the S&S line builds I figured it would be wise to do this first. I was pleasantly surprised how good some of the scares were in here. While I think Hollywood’s ST was its strongest of the three, I think the second ST was just slightly better than this rendition. Overall I do like this version a lot more than Hollywood’s as it represented the scenes a lot better and actually included scenes I wanted to see (I GOT MY METALLICA SCENE!!!!! \m/). I was a little disappointed to not see a facade of the Creel house as at least Hollywood tried to, but overall, this was great! They did a good with it.

Overall: B+

The Exorcist: Believer: Haven’t seen the movie, don’t care to watch it, but felt fairly similar to Hollywood minus “the red walls” they had. Had a crap run-through at first but got a much better second run-through of it. (That first demon hiding behind the opened door got me good!) Liked it slightly more than HHN Hollywood’s as I thought that rendition was pretty good. Not bad.

Overall: B

Dueling Dragons - Chose Thy Fate: We his this one next as this had the shortest wait time and this was my most-anticipated. I’ve always wanted to see a Medieval castle theme for HHN and I really loved the old Dueling Dragons coaster. With that being said, the set design was fantastic and the tall facade of the Enchanted Oak was a sight to behold! Very intense and very cool! Only thing is, it would’ve been nice to see some more…erm, dragons in this house. Like, I understand the fire and ice characters are actually the dragons in human form to make it more practical for a haunt, but they couldn’t include a scene where a dragon puppet head jumps out? I think that would’ve been doable. Have a dragon head for each ending. Also, speaking of the ending, I wish the ending was more of the approach that Knott’s took with Paranormal Inc. Was hoping to see a slightly longer section that had different scenes than just have the same ending but a different color. Oh well. Still an awesome house! I think just having the dragon puppet and a slightly longer and more different alternate endings would’ve taken this to another level.

Overall: A-


Yeti: Campground Kills: After really loving the 2019 Yeti house, I was pretty excited for this one. It used a lot of similar gags to the Yukon one (The Yeti arm) and featured some cool visuals like the lake scene. I got a lot of vibes from FVJ from HHN 25, especially the cabin scenes. I think if we get Friday the 13th next year, this house would provide a pretty good feel of what it would be like. This was pretty god, but I think I liked Yukon better from 2019. Also in both runthroughs, I couldn't get the bear to dance. Booooooooo!

Overall: B-

Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count: This turned out to be my least-anticipated after hearing how bad it was.Maybe it’s because my expectations were set so low after hearing how bad it was but I thought it was…just okay at worst. It certainly wasn’t great. Absolutely the weakest house of the event, but I did like some things in here. I did like how they used the Chucky doll that lunged at you in the first half.I could see what they were going for and it just didn’t work. Hollywood’s was absolutely better. Kinda wished they included a couple of lunging dolls like they did here to make Hollywood’s just a liiiiitle better and more scary. Didn’t love this one though. Also what’s up with that black hallway at the end? Lol

Overall: D+

Dr. Oddfellow - Twisted Origins: Did this after hitting up Mummy and Gringott’s. Man I HATE that walk. So I liked how they made the whole tent the house is in the actual facade. I got a lot of Knott’s Scary Farm vibes in here. Reminded me a lot of Mesmer from KSF. I also got some vibes from Puppet Theater in here. Liked the scares from the lion and the headless guy. Those were great. Pretty fun house.

Overall: B-

Darkest Deal: Okay, this is my favorite house here. I really liked how there was a linear story here and the atmosphere was fantastic. What I love about the tent houses is how they really push the limits for the kind of scope they can pull off with the sets. Loved the set design with the Great Depression settings and the soundtrack. Also was surprised how intense this was! (The piano scare!) This is absolutely my favorite of the event.

Overall: A+

The Last of Us: Also with this one, I hate the walk. They literally have us walk from MIB and hike all the way through ET. Anyway I haven’t played the games but this was pretty cool. Loved how massive the sets were compared to Hollywood. Again I enjoyed this more than Hollywood’s version even though I enjoyed that one as well.

Overall: B+

Universal Monsters: Unmasked: I’ve always really enjoyed the Universal Monsters houses at HHN, so I was excited for this one as well. Right off the bat, the facade was amazing. Loved the sprinkles of rainfall I felt once I got inside. It really sold the illusion I was outside. There were some fantastic sets in here and they did a stellar Invisible Man scene. Fantastic house.

Overall: A-

Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings: So this is the best house in the scenic department in my book. It reminded me of Dead Man’s Pier with the larger-than-life sets and it was spectacular! I loved how tall the sets were and made it feel like you were in a legitimate village! I always enjoy houses like this and DMP that put you into another world. There were some pretty good scares in here as well. One of my favorites for sure!

Overall: A-

Nightmare Fuel: Revenge Dream: Didn’t see it. Don’t care for it. Just not my thing.

Scarezones: I’m not going to do an in-depth review of each zone, but they were good this year. There wasn’t anything that “Whoa this is AMAZING!” but there were some cool things in each zone. The talent was great in all of them. If I had to pick a favorite, I think the Vamp ’69 was mine. The music was great.

Overall, this is a really solid year and might be my favorite of the 30’s era of HHN. Absolutely better than last year but just a hair better than 30. Last year had several okay/just good houses and a couple of great ones while this year’s was mostly great with one dud. With the glaring exception of Chucky, I think Orlando has done the IPs better than Hollywood. I think ST, TLOU and Monsters are a lot better in Orlando and Exorcist just a hair better.

Just like Hollywood, I crowd management was…..okay I guess. This is coming from someone who had Express for both nights. What really sucked was line/house flow management. The biggest offenders were the Parade building and Sprung Tent queues. For example, we were going to do Monsters before hitting up TLOU, but not being a local to this park, I completely forgot about the Dream Works Land construction and asked the attendant in front of Monsters where TLOU was. He told me it was by MIB and I totally missed it when going through Oddfellow’s and Darkest Deal! He advised me to hit up TLOU first before Monsters because he informed me that TLOU would exit where Monsters would enter. So thankful for him! Props to him for saving me time and energy! That hike from TLOU is ridiculous. I personally don’t mind walking but it took literally 10-15 minutes behind slow as heck people just to fully exit the house.

And that exit path from the sprung tents was really annoying. It crunched up constantly and each time I exited, the line to exit would literally stop and cause a huge backup. People were getting pretty mad from the stoppage. Imagine you had a drink or two and it starts to hit you. You can’t leave. You’re stuck. There is a slow line to exit. I thought Hollywood’s line management was bad, but I can’t recall the last time I had to wait to exit a house. Geez.

Oh, and while I didn’t get to try much of the novelty HHN food, I tried the pizza fries (Always great) and Fritos taco bag by the Jungle SZ. Man, that was good stuff! Strongly recommend it!

 

[ultimateforce]

I finally had the Last of Us mushroom ravioli. It really hit the spot and was actually very tasty!!

 

[dxwwf3]

I finally had the Last of Us mushroom ravioli. It really hit the spot and was actually very tasty!!

Are the cans back yet? I was there a couple of weeks ago and they said they didn’t have any more cans and could get some later in the event

 

[ultimateforce]

No cans but you get a ration card printed on a piece of paper I kept as a souvenir.

 

[erider]

After doing HHN 3 times now I feel I can rate the houses from best to last.
1. Monsters, a beautiful house. I also like how long it is and of course lots of good scares.
2. Stranger Things, must admit I’m probably biased because I’m a big fan of the show. Really well themed but scares are so so.
3. Blood Moon, I love this house. It’s long, big sets and good scares.
4. Dueling Dragons, again beautiful scenic house with decent scares.
5. Darkest Deal, it’s good but I just don’t think it’s as awesome as most people.
6. Oddfellows, love the tight spaces in that house and it’s got really good scares.
7. Yeti, fun house but didn’t get that scared and Yeti costumes all seemed the same to me.
8. Excorsist, it has a spooky atmosphere but nothing special.
9. The Last Of Us, it’s ok, the sets are massive but kind of boring. Masks are cool.
10. Chucky, like most people.

 

[FaceBagman]

Tonight’s my first night of the season!

I only have videos of Chucky’s house to base this off of, but it genuinely seemed to me like there was more detail and propwork in his Cabana Bay photo op lol. That was a lot of fun.

 

[SeventyOne]

Where did the last 2 months go? Probably do a visit or two next week, but with the houses and casts showing attrition, decided to do my Final Ranking:

HOUSES

Best house line-up since 2011. Only one bad one, and considered all of my top 7 for my top 3 at one point or another. I’m still not sure any rose to my all-time great list but a solid line-up of good to very good houses.

10. Chucky – another IUer has a theory: as much as Aiello loved IP (probably because shiny name-brand IP toys were largely off-limits to the event when he was up and coming), the new regime kind of resents IP (presumably it gets forced on them now). This house backs that up. I get the desire to subvert expectations by not doing yet another book report. But it didn’t come close to working. Too many screenz, life-size Chucky puppets aren’t scary, the plot got lost before it began. Much of the set design looks like blown-up photos straight from OfficeMax’s cheapest competitor. The repeated bleeped f-bombs that lampshade the house being PG-13. A rare complete fiasco at HHN, worst house since Chance. You can only judge the house you went through, but a more traditional comedy house based on the twisted toys zone a few years ago probably would’ve been better received.

9) Stranger Things – as further proof of the disillusionment with IP—the first ST house felt like a love letter from fans; this felt like a homework assignment. The focused plotline is well suited to a house, all the set pieces are here—a few, like the opening trailer scenes, do work—but no heart in it. Been discussed to death, but I think if they hadn’t whiffed the Max and Eddie scenes, fans would be more forgiving of the house’s other shortcomings (mannequins, cheap backdrops). I also wonder if the ennui around this house ties into am unspoken feeling the show itself probably should’ve used a tight 6-episode season 4 to wrap things up. In the end, an average house we all wanted more from.

8) The Last of Us – a perfectly serviceable house with a solid cast and a variety of monster designs that fans seem to find true to the game. I just felt Descent did the whole post-apocalyptic vibe better last year. And deducting a point for the ridiculously long queues to and from.

7) Exorcist: Believer – better than it had a right to be. Aggressive cast, interesting monsters, truly vile smells. On subsequent runs the sets began to look familiar, but still some novel scare tactics. A solid book report house better received that the movie it was based on, even if both will be forgotten by the time the next re-quel comes out.

6) Blood Moon – the best colonial-era house HHN has ever done. Loved the open format village with the red moon seemingly always visible. Good cast, some truly disturbing imagery (thinking the maypole and the body room right before the chapel—also the mirror gag in there always got me). Scares reset fairly quickly so everyone got at least some. Main drag was that just about every actor is just a robed cult member, lacks the variety and creativity that Dead Man’s Wharf had last year. I would’ve liked a supernatural Halloween tie-in as well: make them witches, werewolves, something. But these are minor quibbles, I very much enjoyed every run thru this house.

5) Dueling Dragons – jaw-dropping sets (the Enchanted Oak, the castle, the Choose Thy Fate room from the coaster!). A fun variety of costumes—fire and ice wizards but also ogres and fairies and skeletal knights. A great Merlin voice-over. That said, probably should’ve changed the name or found a way to include more dragons. The splitting pathways underwhelmed, and made the house feel a bit shorter than average. Probably works better as a fan service re-creation proof of concept for the rumored “Universal Nights” event than as a haunted house, but as a fan of the original ride and bar, I ate it up.

4) Yeti: Campground Kills–one cast was super aggressive, the other was still fine. Other than Dottie, wasn’t a lot of humor here for me, and basically only one type of monster (tho I appreciated the HHN Bear cameo), but the sets were highly immersive and the scares were effective. Swiping arm continues to get me every time. Very good, but lacking that “X factor” to be all-time great. And with the third appearance in a decade, time to retire the Yeti until HHN 40.

3) Universal Monsters Unmasked – the things that worked were incredible—the opening façade, the first two Phantoms, the animated Phantom and Christine, Mr. Hyde, that terrifying Hunchback bungee scare. But two things hurt this house: first, it felt overstuffed. Would’ve worked better as just the Phantom at the Opera House, then maybe fleeing through the catacombs to Notre Dame, end with Quasimodo in a surprise cameo. Let Jekyll & Hyde have room to breathe in their own house next year (which I hope we still get, those scenes were great, just rushed). Second, too many empty hallways and unstaffed scenes up front; momentum from the opening scenes sort of fizzles away. Still a memorable house that would be top 3 pretty much any year, but not on the GOAT level of the previous two from this franchise.

2) Oddfellow—best single icon house since The Caretaker. Tight turns, clever gags and effective distractions made for a lot of scares once the cast got the hang of it. Façade looked great, even if only a lighting effect. Took a couple runs to see the zodiac theme but clever once you start to look for it. “Striking acts of distortion” been stuck in my head all season. Great to see the lion back. Loved the sword swallower and the knife-throwing gag. The Jack Easter eggs were subtle, perfectly done. Only real complaints: the video-based water tank gag looks dumb and ruins the vibe, and the ending is anticlimactic. Still glad to see Dr. Oddfellow join the pantheon of icons.

1) Darkest Deal—took a week to find its footing but on fire once it did. Managed to tell a 3-act story and bring the scares--the graveyard ghosts and piano ghost startled me multiple times. The animated shadow effects were incredible. Costumes were spot-on. The other effects all worked well, particularly the soul-claiming scene, which reset just fast enough to give most a chance to see it. The Hellish climax is truly satisfying. What holds this one back from greatness? It feels short—both in overall length, and Act 1 feels like it’s missing a scene or two. Then Act 2 sort of drags, with cool sets--the graveyard to underground to the bayou--but losing narrative propulsion. Beautiful to look at, some good scares, but feels tangential to the story. Also, a lot of effects in this house quit working mid-season. Nevertheless, a noteworthy house, and another example proving this medium can create a work of art.

 

[SeventyOne]

Everything Else
If the best house lineup since 2011, the worst scare-zone lineup since 2012. The event did nothing to dissuade me from my belief the concept is broken. Worse, it desperately misses an opening zone thru Production Circle and the chainsaw horde in Springfield. Even at their worst, both set the mood in a way these other zones do not. A second full show would’ve been appreciated, as well, ideally in a theater with seats, but maybe it’s time to rethink the concept from the ground up.

8) M3gan show – in over a dozen visits, saw this once organically. Costumes and performers were great, but so mobbed by a huge crowd—most of whom had cell phones out trying to record—that I couldn’t see much of the 4-minute show. Needed to be on a stage, tho I don’t see how the concept supports a full 25 minutes. Maybe as part of “Dr. Oddfellow’s Variety Hour” or something. As is, a waste of talent.

7) Shipyard 32 – recycled costumes, uninventive sets, usually too crowded to walk through. Actor budget better spent elsewhere.

6) Dr Oddfellow/Dark Zodiac – treating as one because they blended together along Rodeo, neither distinctive enough to stand out from the other. Zodiac had a game cast but if it weren’t for the name, I wouldn’t know the costumes represented the constellations. The chainsaws felt like an afterthought, with deliberately personality-less blank wielders. The Doctor looked and sounded great on-stage, but his cliched patter went nowhere—there’s no real climax he builds to. May have worked better as the MC of a Maximum Madness show, but then runs the risk of looking like a Jack clone. None of his minions stood out enough to make an impression.

5) Vamp 69 – a large cast eager to scare, and the sets and costumes were well done, but the soundtrack ruined it for me. If you’re going for a dangerous 60s counterculture vibe, Neil Diamond and the Archies ain’t it. Even the sort of ok songs could’ve been better --- “Honky-Tonk Woman” is a 1960s banger, but they couldn’t get the more thematically appropriate “Paint It Black,” “Street Fighting Man” or “Sympathy for the Devil”??? “Down on the Corner” instead of “Bad Moon Rising”? Killed the atmosphere for me.

4) Jungle of Doom – when you could walk it, some inspired creatures, décor was on point, and I really like the music and light change in the mini show. Still, despite being my favorite traditional zone this year, would just as soon they bring back the pumpkins and some spooky music and station actors elsewhere.

3) Nightmare Fuel – the best show in that stadium not named “Bill & Teds.” The fire effects are breathtaking, the dual aerialist performances are stunning, the magic tricks are probably a century old but still impressive when done perfectly like that. Felt like less showboating from the dancers, as well, which helped keep the crowd less obnoxious. A really well done show, I just wish it didn’t have the equivalent of an Express queue just to get into the holding area. Also, while I appreciate the changes this third year, may be time to retire the framing device.

2) Death Eaters – Brings a Halloween mood that perfectly matches Diagon. Costume, music, movements, all work together perfectly. Like so many things at HHN became too crowded to enjoy, but those early shows keep it near the top of this list.

1) Galaxy Gals – the PMJ-esque trio brought clever lyrics and mash-ups with tight choreography and harmonies. Every show I caught was a delight, and usually featured a song I hadn’t heard before, costumes fit the sci fi B-movie vibe perfectly. The Best thing Universal Entertainment has created since Celestina Warbeck.

 

[FaceBagman]

This vacation has been phenomenal so far. First year of doing it alone (big ups to the "NEVER GO ALONE" tagline lmaoooo), but it's been an overwhelmingly positive crowd for the majority of my stay here.

4 nights in this past week, crowds were only as rough as I remember them being last year on Friday. Wednesday, I managed to get all 10 houses done without Express or Scream Early by closing, but it was tight. Last night, I did a run of all 10 plus Nightmare Fuel and a few walk-on house reruns in plenty of time.

Brief thoughts, and I don't want to rank at the moment because almost every house feels so much fun this year:

Monsters - Another banger in the series. I don't think it tops last year (the setting made that house), but there's enough to love to put it over Bride and maybe tied with the first in this series of houses. The smells in the theatre! Invisible Man section feels a little short, but I get there's not a ton one can do with that character. I wish they had included some scene of him claiming a victim or something. Jekyll & Hyde got a lot more to do than he did.

Exorcist: Believer - One of my favorites this year, and the cast alone put it there for me. As a whole, it's a fairly standard house that could probably have worked just as well in a tent scale-wise. But the cast playing the girls go HARD in here. Possibly the most aggressive cast I've seen since I started attending in 2018. The two at each opposing doorway in the round pathway room are almost crawling on the floor at times to get in your space. I love it.

Stranger Things S4 - I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to. I think the footage from media night really highlights how limiting screens can be, but being there in person helps to mitigate that feeling once you're immersed in the environment. Still wish there was even one scene of Hopper & friends vs. the Demo in prison. But everything included is still fun.

Bloodmoon - Beautiful to walk through. Fun cast. The courtyard scene, timed right, has that one excellent moment of the actress in a future scare just pacing out and glaring at you from across the set in a super unsettling way.

Dueling Dragons - Really fun, not all that intense until the Skelly Bois show up. Those dudes are pretty good at getting in your face. I did get smacked with the one fire-wizard-on-a-platform's cape sleeve on one walkthrough, did not expect that and I laughed.

Yeti - Not as strong as 2019, but this is still a really entertaining cast with some remarkable set pieces (The collapsed cabin feels immense). The little things in this house are it's strongest point though, baby yeti, the RV window, toilet snake, etc...

Oddfellow's - I adore how much fun this cast is having every time I run through. I was fortunate enough to get a solo walkthrough before closing last night and every clown was waving back & giving it their all. Bullerina is a top-tier HHN character, more people need to talk about Bullerina. That is all.

Darkest Deal - Favorite. Took my expectations and exceeded them. Super timing-dependent, but when you hit the flow, it's unrelenting in the best way. I tend to forget the non-Collector goat-man has an earlier scare before the ending run and then he gets right up in my grill. Shout-out to all the Collectors too, what a brilliant costume that treads the line between goofy caricature and intimidating very well.

Chucky - I set my expectations low and was still disappointed. I will say that I did 2 walkthroughs last night and they were much better than Wednesday's. But there's just...so much space that seems to have gone unused here, which is incredibly rare for HHN Orlando houses. I feel this was a problem with Blumhouse last year as well. I look at this house location and I see a lot of potential, but it hasn't been realized quite yet. I hope they don't give up on it or on Chucky as a property for a house, because both could have been better than what was done this year. Putting an interactive actor in the interlude area was a good step-up from last year though.

Last of Us - Not my favorite IP they've had, and the house doesn't really do much new that I can see in terms of scare techniques. However, the second Bloater is often super aggro because it has so much more space to play in, probably the best role in the house.

Zones weren't great design-wise, but the actors are doing their best with what they have. I appreciate seeing a couple old favorites back in Shipyard, the vamps are all really energetic and into their characters for '69, and Zodiac feels like a better photo-op zone than some of the actual photo-op zones have been in recent years.

My way-too-early hopes for next year are that at least one of the Tribute Store stories are fleshed out into original houses or that we finally get Creepshow out of IP limbo. Either way, I want more pulp comic horror as a theme at next year's HHN.

 

[MikePat]

PART 1: REVIEW

Well, it’s time to review… I finally attended this past weekend… and we are almost at the end of a season!!!

HHN 32 feels bigger than any event before. The event is down a show; however, it is up its offerings, food choices, drink selections, extra character interactions, and even multiple offerings that spread into the Citywalk and the hotels. The scale of some of the houses is grandiose, and the content is tied into some of the most beloved IPs and originals. Also, the crowds and demand tell you how big this year is.

I think some of the hype this year should be attributed to Dr. Oddfellow, who, for most newcomers, will likely be their favorite new icon. I sure know I like him already more than other icons (maybe a certain clown one). He's a new face but familiar in name, and along with Dr. Oddfellow making the icon roster more diverse, he’s just awesome! I love the sinister performance given by the leading actor playing Oddfellow in the front of the park, too.

Talking about the haunted houses, first off, it was a strong year for the originals. I don’t think there are any elite houses this year, but over time, one of my favorites from this year could jump into that list. It’s hard to do an official ranking, so instead, I’ll go through the haunted house by tiers:

Tier 1 (ELITE)
NONE FOR NOW

Tier 2 (EXCELLENT)

• The Darkest Deal - The vibes in this house were something else. The Crossroad legend, or rather, the story of someone selling their soul to the Devil, is a classic tale. Universal's take on this story is visually haunting at particular moments, whether that is from the earthy smells or the unsettling original music created for the house. The environments feel lived in. The storytelling is pretty fantastic, particularly every moment with The Collector and Pinestraw. Some actors were willing to get very close up with guests, helping invoke a more aggressive side of the house. The Darkest Deal is my favorite house of the year.
• Dr Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins - Another fantastic sprung tent house. This is Oddfellow’s house, and I’m so happy it did not devolve into something focused on Jack. THIS IS ODDFELLOW’S YEAR, IT’S HIS TIME TO SHINE! Traveling through the carnival feels like a labyrinth, a long one at that, which is an impressive feeling to have in a Sprung Tent. The haunted house includes excellent character moments and designs throughout the house. It has fun with the odd side of carnivals, that is for sure.
• Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate - This house had so many exceptions to live up to. Impressively, it succeeds almost on most expectations. From striking lighting techniques to stunning impressive sets, this house hits fantastic grounds while translating a fantasy story into some scary. Out of all the haunted houses this year, all the actors destroyed it with powerful energy on every walkthrough, always willing to get up close and try to scare everyone. Would it have been cool to have a scare from the Dragons? Sure, but the content in the house currently is as fantastic as it already is.
• Universal Monsters: Unmasked - Paris was a fantastic setting to bring all four of these underrated Universal Monsters together, mainly as the house took the opportunity to take us through claustrophobic rooms and then suddenly into large French locations. Phantom’s sections were great, but the Monsters with fewer rooms stole the show. The Invisible Man had memorable scares, it was unique how Hyde appeared first before transforming back to Mr. Jekyll, and Hunchback having a bungee scare was so much fun—another great Universal Monsters house to add to the collection.

Tier 3 (GOOD):

• The Exorcist: Believer - Ahhh, what a surprise! Universal took essentially a house no one could have cared about (for a few reasons) and made Believer one of the most exciting houses of the event. Before a scare, a lot of the cast playing the possessed girls would have fun with creepy interactions, whether that be staring at guests from their boo-hole or walking out slowly before hitting their triggers. Lots of strong smells in the house, too (when they are turned on). There was a lot of location variety compared to 2016’s house due to the new material. Best trailer I have ever walked through.
• Yeti: Campground Kills - Better than Terror of the Yukon? This sequel house builds on the B-Movie camp further, and what better place to do that than on a camp? This house felt like it was about building an entertaining location as much as it was about the Yetis themselves. From the physical elements of the lake or cheesy “bait” sign to introducing other animals, such as a snake and the glorious HHN bear, Shadow Creek State Park is such a fun location. The Yetis did a great job, especially considering how heavy those costumes could sometimes feel.
• Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings - One of the best “open concept” designs HHN has ever done. There were a few areas where actors could move around, particularly in the town square, which helped make the town come to life. I love the pacing built up in this house, starting slow before hitting it off with a bell tower and terrifying ritualistic statue. This house feels like a local haunt, which is a complement in the best way possible.

Tier 4 (AVERAGE):

• The Last of Us - A decent house, but nothing that will get me to walk from MIB to the parade buildings, followed by a hike to ET every trip. The Clickers were some of the best costumes of the event this year, with great masks. Loved the little detail of airborne spores in the bathroom. What this house was missing was some more energy from the actors, and the house wasn’t that scary. I would have loved to see more moments with Joel and Ellie because they are what makes the emotional core of The Last of Us special. I also missed Ellie on every walkthrough I had - but that’s a little nitpicky thing that happened due to timing.

Tier 5 (BELOW-AVERAGE *MAYBE BAD*):

• Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count - I understand Chucky's frustrations with his house now. I would be mad if this were my haunted house, too (lol). While starting with an impressive Chucky effect off the bat, the scenes following do not feel like they are from a Universal haunted house. Scenically, the weak sets cause a slight disconnect towards the meta idea that Chucky is taking over an HHN Orlando house and not a cheap haunted house. That said, the puppets were cool but not scary, and the actors tried to have fun. Good intentions on paper, weak results.
• Stranger Things 4 - Maybe the weakest Stranger Things house for Orlando, which was a surprise, considering the content in Season 4 is strong enough for a single house compared to other seasons. While this house focuses on Vecna, his costume isn’t that scary. His scare also gets repetitive too. From some cheap backdrops to bad transitions, this house did not do it for me.

Some other notes from my experience this year:

• Scare zones were average at best. After last year, which I consider to be one of best zone lineups in recent memory due to their fun twists on classic Halloween themes. This year felt off, or at least empty. Shipyard 32 was just recycled ideas. Some parts of the Dark Zodiac zone felt like an afterthought. I never really saw anyone besides Oddfellow in his zone. Jungle of Doom was probably my favorite, followed by Vamp 69’. As much as I loved last year's zones, it did have lighting issues, and in my opinion, lighting was darker this year.
• Nightmare Fuel continues to prove itself as the best, most electrifying show HHN has ever produced. The dance choreography, the fire, the costumes, and the magic all blend together for one fantastic experience. The Black Parade is terrific!!!
• Okay, it is time to get to the best part of HHN 32 out of the way… David S Pumpkins. “Any questions?” Well, there shouldn’t be because there is no debate. The actor in Orlando did fantastic for being on his own without his music or skeletons.
• Death Eaters were a welcomed addition this year.
• M3GAN Horde, while they were great performers, caused a lot of bottlenecking in areas.
• This year marked my first time trying Orlando’s RIP Tour. While there were fewer benefits in price and amenities compared to Hollywood, the tour was fun and allowed me to see Nightmare Fuel in the best seats possible. Shout out to my tour guide, Joe!!!

Overall, I liked HHN32, but what will stand out in my memory is some of the original content and having the chance to meet Dr. Oddfellow.

Excited to see what comes next year.

 

[MikePat]

Double posting, but...

PART 2: PHOTOS

 

[Jake S]

Love that Darkest Deal facade photo. Glad you had a good time!

 

[Darko]

Ok, so my overall opinion on this year is it’s probably one of the best years for me in quite some time. The houses this year are very strong. Even Chucky I thought was pretty fun (not the dreck everyone else seems to consider it. I found Chance’s house to be worse by quite a margin). The zones were solid this year in my opinion. Loved the creepy atmosphere of Dark Zodiac, the detail in Jungle of Doom, and the fun of Vamp ‘69. Leagues better than 29 (still dislike that year’s scare zones).

Favorite houses had to be Oddfellow’s, Darkest Deal, Universal Monsters, and Blood Moon (Bloodmoon? Don’t know if it’s one word or two).

Not gonna tier list the houses as there are too many great ones this year.

Gonna also say something that people may not wanna hear. With how bad the crowds have gotten, I’m starting to wonder if park-wide scarezones with more minimal, spread out props needs to be a thing again. Something like Carnival of Carnage’s Midway park-wide zone would work better now due to its sparseness.

So honestly, might be time to do parkwide themes for the park rather than individual zones full of detail. I hate saying it and it probably isn’t the answer. May not help at all. Just more of a thinking out loud idea.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

Just got back from my fall Orlando trip with two nights at HHN. Overall, this was a solid year. I'd compare this year's lineup to 28 where most houses are good but not anywhere near the event's best, though I think 32 boasts better highs.

1. The Darkest Deal (2 runs): On my first run, I thought this was a good house with decent scares, but something felt missing. My second run completely changed that view; the scareactors were not only more aggressive, but I got hit with nearly every scare. I love the story's progression and originality. The only thing keeping this from my top 15-20 is the set design feels barebones in some rooms. 9/10

2. Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings (3 runs): I am so glad this exceeded many of our vague expectations when it was first announced. Similar to Darkest Deal, Bloodmoon's subject matter feels refreshing for the event with a setting that has not been present for a while. The house forces you to absorb your surroundings, and its use of height overwhelms the experience. 2 of my runs had strong scares, and even on a run where I missed most scareactors, there was still so much to take in. That's truly the sign of a strong house. If the house had better character variety, that would push it over the edge. 9/10

3. The Last of Us (2 runs): 3-5 are all very close for me, but I'm giving TLOU a slight edge for having more consistent runs and a better connection to the franchise. Each room has the right amount of scenery and feels cohesive with the overall house flow, and there is a good assortment of humans and infected for unpredictability. The bloaters are by far the best part, especially when they are able to block walkways; more houses should take advantage of that when the opportunity arises. 8.5/10

4. Universal Monsters Unmasked (2 runs): While this is nowhere near as good as Legends Collide or 2019, Unmasked still brings strong scares. The first Invisible Man and Hyde were some of the best scares I got this year. The sets feel somewhat generic and not cohesive. Even with the general premise of "The Paris monsters are out and about," I never felt a rhyme or reason to why monsters appeared when they did, especially being a Phantom-heavy house. It's another good Monster offering, but I wouldn't mind a break from them next year. 8/10

5. Dr. Oddfellow's Twisted Origins (2 runs): On night one, this was teetering to be my favorite house. Most scares hit hard, and the cast was absolutely visceral. The triple scare midway through the house truly threw me into a loop that night. However, my second run lacked intensity, and the house's shortcomings became apparent. Like its Sprung counterpart Darkest Deal, the sets are serviceable yet not the driving factor in the overall package, but unlike that house, the story stays stagnant for most of the duration.

6. Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate (2 runs): The scares in this house were better than I expected after hearing mixed reactions to its scariness. It's a fun walkthrough with great storytelling, set design, and tributes to the resort's past. It's on the shorter side, but I'm not sure if an extra scene or two would've drastically changed my take without moving dragons. 7.5/10

7. Yeti: Campground Kills (3 runs): This is a slight downgrade from Yukon Terror, though I appreciated that the Yetis actually got much closer to you this time around. I like that the campground setting sticks out and isn't just a generic forrest

8. The Exorcist: Believer (2 runs): Having not seen Believer (which tbf sounds like it doesn't make a difference for understanding the house), the house's story meant zilch. Fortunately, most scares hit well with a good variety between the girls and main demon. This is just one of those houses where it works well enough but the tiny details never fully materialize in your mind to be memorable once the event passes. 7.5/10

9. Stranger Things 4 (1 run): It's another Stranger Things house - a couple decent scares in a hodgepodge of scenes from the series that don't flow as coherently as they do on-screen. At least The Walking Dead houses usually had better/more interesting scares than going for fanservice. 7/10

10. Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count (1 run): Well... I expected much worse and got something passable. Easily the weakest house this year with no memorable moments aside from the first animatronic and awkward tent transition. 5/10

Zones: Unsurprisingly, the zones really lacked this year. Production Central was so barren every time I passed through it, and the typical San Francisco congestion robbed Shipyard of any identity. Vamp had good music at least?

Nightmare Fuel: I skipped last year's version after being unimpressed by 2021's, but my feet were destroying me on Saturday so I figured why the hell not. I had fun! The music and stunt variety were both good. I get why there's a rabid fanbase for these shows, but they're merely decent timekillers for me, which I'm ok with. 7.5/10

 

[SeanPhilly]

My squad and I were there 10/22 - 10/30/2023 and, as always, we had a great time!

My personal house ranking:

1 - Blood Moon
2 - Oddfellow
3 - Monsters
4 - Chucky
5 - Yeti
6 - Darkest Deal
7 - Last of Us
8 - Exorcist
9 - Dueling Dragons
10 - Stranger Things

Even those on the lower end of my list were good IMO. Although I will say that Last of Us disappointed me; it’s literally my favorite video game (so maybe I went in with high expectations). But with multiple go-throughs we only saw TWO Joels and ONE Ellie which seemed a poor decision to us. And the Joel wigs were awful.

Crowds seemed manageable - and even light - on most nights. Although I agree with others that the food kiosks would benefit from more structured queue lines.

Although we tried, we never managed to see the Death Eaters; we got a tiny glimpse of the Megan dancers, but even a smallish crowd around them made it nearly impossible to see / enjoy.

We all found the scare zones somewhat underwhelming, but certainly noted that congestion was lower. Although I will say I still catch myself humming the Vamp zone songs.

 

[Brian G.]

Final Rankings:

1. Darkest Deal
2. Yeti
3. Monsters
4. Oddfellow
5. Exorcist.
6. Dueling Dragons
7. Bloodmoon
8. Last of Us
9. Stranger Things
10. Chucky

1. Vamp 69
2. Jungle of Doom
3. Zodiac
4. Shipyard
5. Oddfellow

Nightmare Fuel was great.

Overall, strong houses with an OK scarezone lineup and a great show - B+ year.

 

[Mad Dog]

Final Rankings:

1. Darkest Deal
2. Yeti
3. Monsters
4. Oddfellow
5. Exorcist.
6. Dueling Dragons
7. Bloodmoon
8. Last of Us
9. Stranger Things
10. Chucky

1. Vamp 69
2. Jungle of Doom
3. Zodiac
4. Shipyard
5. Oddfellow

Nightmare Fuel was great.

Overall, strong houses with an OK scarezone lineup and a great show - B+ year.

Glad to see that October slower crowds let you get a chance to finally see Nighttime Fuel.

 

[Brian G.]

Glad to see that October slower crowds let you get a chance to finally see Nighttime Fuel.

We got there 40 min early this time... haha. The last few nights were getting full very early, though. The very last show of the event needed ticket distribution.

 

[JungleSkip]

After closing night visit:

1) Darkest Deal - The platonic ideal of a HHN house. Great scares, great story, great effects.
2) Monsters - A very good house, but I feel like they tried to do too much with this one. Feel like it’s a bit shaggier because of all the themes/locations they tried to put in it.
3) Bloodmoon - Great vibes, great story, solid scares.
4) Oddfellow - A great final run really vaulted this one up the rankings
5) TLOU - I had 2 great runs in this. And as a fan of the game, there was so much to enjoy.
6) Yeti - Just fun overall, and when the cast is bringing it a good amount of scares too.
7) Stranger Things - A really great book report house. The Vecna actors have been doing good scarework, and the demogorgon got me good.
8) Dueling Dragons - After a really good run, I moved this up. A fun house, with some good effects. No Dragon puppets really hinders its ranking tho.
9) Exorcist - Way better than I expected. Intense and visceral, but the run I had wasn’t amazing.
10) Chucky - I don’t even know what they were thinking here

 

[Galactus]

Thanks everyone for making the season so fun! I was glued to this community the whole season even though I was only able to make it out for opening weekend. I finally got around to editing more of my pictures so here are a few more of my favorites! Can't wait for 2024 speculation and for next year's event where I'll have some faster lenses!