Universal Halloween Horror Nights - Night
As some of y’all know, I love horror films and I’ve even been known to write a few horror stories as well. That being said… I have NEVER been to a haunted house. Ever. Once in middle school my dance team went to Six Flags while they were still doing their Halloween haunted house. The team went in and I waited outside. I had no interest going in and having people jump out at me.
Last night though (I’m typing in the future actually. I started typing this up as soon as I got home). I went with Manny and his roommates to Universal Halloween Horror Nights. It was an experience. It was a lot of fun but getting home at 2:30am I’m exhausted.
We got there at around 6:30pm so we didn’t have to wait too long before the festivities began. Universal? They know how to put on a show.
A little before 7:00pm a siren went off and the emergency broadcast from “The Purge” began playing over the loud speakers as fire bursts started going off. All this followed directly by rock music as men in masks with chainsaws instantly began running through the crowd to disperse everybody into the park. Lol, it was at this moment I began thinking “shit. I’m not sure I was ready for this.” There was this eeriy moment where I couldn’t see what was happening but I could just hear people starting to scream and see them scatter.
My sister had gone the previous year and given the pointer that if you look scared then the scarers are going to go after you. So I put on my best poker face and walked in a straight line. Our group was about 7 large and even with me in front the men with chainsaws pretty much left us alone and went for the easier targets.
We were all starving so we got some food and I am glad that I bought a water bottle because well… after each maze we went through, I needed it. Since the Walking Dead tram ride ended at 10:30 we decided to do that first.
For those of you who don’t know the tram takes you to the backlot (by the Bates Motel & Norman Bates’ house and a crashed plane set) and drops you off in a Walker infested area and tell you to watch out for the Walking Dead as well as the distrustful survivors. Getting in line for the tram was where I had my first scare of the night. They had a few zombies hanging around scaring people and even though I saw the fucker in the corner of my eye (and had just finished watching him scare the woman in front of me) I still jumped a mile when he lunged at me. Josh and Michael (Manny’s roommates) had a good laugh at my expense at that one.
It was good that I had Manny’s elbow to attach myself to when there were zombies getting in my face and getting behind me to breathe in my ear. Which I found out later was because Josh was pointing me out to the zombies as an easy target (the turd). The walk through the Walking Dead area wasn’t too bad as it was open space and you could see far enough ahead that you knew where the Walkers were and as long as you didn’t scream they’d just get in your face and then pull back for someone who would give a bigger reaction. I ended up flinching and laughing through most of the walk through. The woman in front of me was screaming at the top of her lungs and served as a great distraction for most of the zombies who would settle for just staring at me as I walked past probably because I was laughing like an idiot at that point.
Which let me say something. The scare actors aren’t allowed to touch you but damn do they get close. They know exactly just how close they can get to your face. I had one Walker try to grab my legs at one point and then a Survivor put his pickaxe like an inch from my face.
Afterwards we went on the Mummy ride to regroup ourselves before heading to the Insidious maze next. It’s always a bad sign when you’re getting up towards the front of the line and you see a grown woman crying her eyes out as her boyfriend/husband leads her out of the line because she couldn’t go through it. This is also where the guys in our group decided that all of us girls were to go in front. It became a thing at the next maze too where we’d get to the front and two of them would grab me and try to push me in front of them. The employee at the entrance commended them on their use of us as bait. He also gave us a “safe word” if we got too scared inside the maze, not convinced the safe word was real and not just a way to get people to scream out “quesadilla” at the top of their longs when people jumped at them from behind black curtains.
The Insidious maze, based on both movies, is where I did most of my screaming last night. I attached myself again to Manny and even when I knew there were scare actors around the corner and even when I was specifically watching doors knowing that someone was about to come out damn did I scream at the top of my lungs (sometimes unfortunately directly into the face of some of the scarers, sorry y’all).
Next up was the Transformer’s 3D ride which was pretty awesome. That was a lot of fun and while half our group didn’t want to go, I’m glad we convinced them because it was so worth it. We were all crazy blown away by it and seriously it’s so worth riding (the regular rides also had super short lines because everyone was waiting on the mazes).
Next we went to the Walking Dead Maze. Which is different than the tram ride. Even though you have to take a tram to get to the area with the Walking Dead Maze. The line ended up being 2.5 hours long and where most of our energy got zapped as we waited. The maze was fun and scary but really kind of short considering how long we waited in line. The thing about the mazes I think that makes them really scary? Is that the walking paths are so narrow that you pretty much have to walk single file and there’s not a lot of room to move when a scare actor comes at you, especially if they’re coming at you from both sides. Plus there were hanging “meat caucuses and guts” that they had given a really awful smell too. Most of the group was already exhausted so I heard mostly laughs behind me which helped because I was still screaming and gripping the back of Manny’s shirt at this point.
The rest of the night was a Hot Chocolate break, followed by the Simpson’s ride and then one final maze. The Monster Remix maze near the exit of the park. Which we were already so tired at this point but there was no line so we went for it. It was basically what I would think a traditional haunted house would end up being like. A bunch of horror troupes smashed together (although to house music so that was new and interesting). You haven’t lived till you see a mad scientist at the turntables while a scary looking dude on stilts dances as he tries to reach for you. At this point I was kind over the scary maze at this point so I just did a lot flinching as different werewolves and ghosts reached out at me with knives. Alex (Manny’s other roommate) had a huge scream as a person apparently came at me with a knife so quickly and so close she thought I’d actually gotten hit. I didn’t even see, lol. I was busy watching a weird corner to my left that I was sure someone was going to jump out of (no one did).
My final scare of the night was at the last leg of this maze (which for having the shortest line was also the longest maze in the park). I was so focused on just finishing that I didn’t even expect the guy behind the wall and I ended up letting out the loudest yelp of my life followed instantly with uncontrollable giggles that had the rest of the group behind me asked me what had happened.
After that final maze we decided to call it a night. As you leave the park you have to walk through the Purge scare zone which I think we looked so tired and done for the night that no one bothered to come at us with chainsaws. Even though I think this scare zone, because it’s right at the entrance, probably had more actors than the others combined.
Wow. This ended up being quite long. It was a fun night so I wanted to make sure I remembered everything. So that was my fun at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights.
Last night though (I’m typing in the future actually. I started typing this up as soon as I got home). I went with Manny and his roommates to Universal Halloween Horror Nights. It was an experience. It was a lot of fun but getting home at 2:30am I’m exhausted.
We got there at around 6:30pm so we didn’t have to wait too long before the festivities began. Universal? They know how to put on a show.
A little before 7:00pm a siren went off and the emergency broadcast from “The Purge” began playing over the loud speakers as fire bursts started going off. All this followed directly by rock music as men in masks with chainsaws instantly began running through the crowd to disperse everybody into the park. Lol, it was at this moment I began thinking “shit. I’m not sure I was ready for this.” There was this eeriy moment where I couldn’t see what was happening but I could just hear people starting to scream and see them scatter.
My sister had gone the previous year and given the pointer that if you look scared then the scarers are going to go after you. So I put on my best poker face and walked in a straight line. Our group was about 7 large and even with me in front the men with chainsaws pretty much left us alone and went for the easier targets.
We were all starving so we got some food and I am glad that I bought a water bottle because well… after each maze we went through, I needed it. Since the Walking Dead tram ride ended at 10:30 we decided to do that first.
For those of you who don’t know the tram takes you to the backlot (by the Bates Motel & Norman Bates’ house and a crashed plane set) and drops you off in a Walker infested area and tell you to watch out for the Walking Dead as well as the distrustful survivors. Getting in line for the tram was where I had my first scare of the night. They had a few zombies hanging around scaring people and even though I saw the fucker in the corner of my eye (and had just finished watching him scare the woman in front of me) I still jumped a mile when he lunged at me. Josh and Michael (Manny’s roommates) had a good laugh at my expense at that one.
It was good that I had Manny’s elbow to attach myself to when there were zombies getting in my face and getting behind me to breathe in my ear. Which I found out later was because Josh was pointing me out to the zombies as an easy target (the turd). The walk through the Walking Dead area wasn’t too bad as it was open space and you could see far enough ahead that you knew where the Walkers were and as long as you didn’t scream they’d just get in your face and then pull back for someone who would give a bigger reaction. I ended up flinching and laughing through most of the walk through. The woman in front of me was screaming at the top of her lungs and served as a great distraction for most of the zombies who would settle for just staring at me as I walked past probably because I was laughing like an idiot at that point.
Which let me say something. The scare actors aren’t allowed to touch you but damn do they get close. They know exactly just how close they can get to your face. I had one Walker try to grab my legs at one point and then a Survivor put his pickaxe like an inch from my face.
Afterwards we went on the Mummy ride to regroup ourselves before heading to the Insidious maze next. It’s always a bad sign when you’re getting up towards the front of the line and you see a grown woman crying her eyes out as her boyfriend/husband leads her out of the line because she couldn’t go through it. This is also where the guys in our group decided that all of us girls were to go in front. It became a thing at the next maze too where we’d get to the front and two of them would grab me and try to push me in front of them. The employee at the entrance commended them on their use of us as bait. He also gave us a “safe word” if we got too scared inside the maze, not convinced the safe word was real and not just a way to get people to scream out “quesadilla” at the top of their longs when people jumped at them from behind black curtains.
The Insidious maze, based on both movies, is where I did most of my screaming last night. I attached myself again to Manny and even when I knew there were scare actors around the corner and even when I was specifically watching doors knowing that someone was about to come out damn did I scream at the top of my lungs (sometimes unfortunately directly into the face of some of the scarers, sorry y’all).
Next up was the Transformer’s 3D ride which was pretty awesome. That was a lot of fun and while half our group didn’t want to go, I’m glad we convinced them because it was so worth it. We were all crazy blown away by it and seriously it’s so worth riding (the regular rides also had super short lines because everyone was waiting on the mazes).
Next we went to the Walking Dead Maze. Which is different than the tram ride. Even though you have to take a tram to get to the area with the Walking Dead Maze. The line ended up being 2.5 hours long and where most of our energy got zapped as we waited. The maze was fun and scary but really kind of short considering how long we waited in line. The thing about the mazes I think that makes them really scary? Is that the walking paths are so narrow that you pretty much have to walk single file and there’s not a lot of room to move when a scare actor comes at you, especially if they’re coming at you from both sides. Plus there were hanging “meat caucuses and guts” that they had given a really awful smell too. Most of the group was already exhausted so I heard mostly laughs behind me which helped because I was still screaming and gripping the back of Manny’s shirt at this point.
The rest of the night was a Hot Chocolate break, followed by the Simpson’s ride and then one final maze. The Monster Remix maze near the exit of the park. Which we were already so tired at this point but there was no line so we went for it. It was basically what I would think a traditional haunted house would end up being like. A bunch of horror troupes smashed together (although to house music so that was new and interesting). You haven’t lived till you see a mad scientist at the turntables while a scary looking dude on stilts dances as he tries to reach for you. At this point I was kind over the scary maze at this point so I just did a lot flinching as different werewolves and ghosts reached out at me with knives. Alex (Manny’s other roommate) had a huge scream as a person apparently came at me with a knife so quickly and so close she thought I’d actually gotten hit. I didn’t even see, lol. I was busy watching a weird corner to my left that I was sure someone was going to jump out of (no one did).
My final scare of the night was at the last leg of this maze (which for having the shortest line was also the longest maze in the park). I was so focused on just finishing that I didn’t even expect the guy behind the wall and I ended up letting out the loudest yelp of my life followed instantly with uncontrollable giggles that had the rest of the group behind me asked me what had happened.
After that final maze we decided to call it a night. As you leave the park you have to walk through the Purge scare zone which I think we looked so tired and done for the night that no one bothered to come at us with chainsaws. Even though I think this scare zone, because it’s right at the entrance, probably had more actors than the others combined.
Wow. This ended up being quite long. It was a fun night so I wanted to make sure I remembered everything. So that was my fun at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights.