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*POSSIBLE SPOILERS* But read to compare opening weekend to 2nd weekend.
Got to the parking around 6PM. Secruity at 6:15PM-ish had no waiting. Short lines at the main gates. Surprised to see the park closes at 2AM since I thought they closed midnight, they must have learned something from last week
. They let people inside the park at 6:30 or 45PM. DO NOT PUT YOUR TICKET IN THE SCANNER, GIVE IT TO THE EMPLOYEE! The guy forgot to flip the plastic case so people don't put tickets through. Although it still works and the manual scanner denied my ticket at first, for some reason they don't have people scan the ticket themselves... At the entrance plaza, had the live statue on the fountain. A couple of go-go female teaser dancers on the sides with zombie masks, but they still showed off their body 
. Nothing is open until 7PM. The walkway beside Shrek4D is closed for Asylum queue. Some employees had cloaks and others in non-themed Universal employee shirts. LOTS of employees everywhere.
*TERROR TRAM* I spent 20 minutes in "maze and 10 minutes on tram there and back
Went to the Terror Tram first, I got on the 3rd tram and like I suspected, the tram made a U turn to go "back" to the Grinch sets instead of going through back and frontlot, which is a good thing. Oh, there was some perverted character walking around the load station with bloody underpants. The tour guides acted pretty much the same as always, but with a different script of course. Showed a video about The Director. I wished they didn't tell us we were getting dropped off and allowed to wonder the sets. I kinda wanted a story. Like at the drop-off they act like the tram is having problems so they tell us to get out until they can fix it. But I went on the Tram early, so I don't know how later in the night it plays out.
First was Clowns (Grinch), college massacre (Bates Motel), Psycho House with Norman and a gored girl in a chair with a butcher for some reason, and zombies (War of the Worlds). I really wished the metal fences weren't there. They needed more sets and props and themed fencing/blockade. They should have sets up on the opposite side of Grinch set to balance things out and let scarers wonder in that. Set the Grinch cars to blockade people from getting into the real Grinch set. The clown theme is fine, they just need more. And pillars/towers for scarers to hide behind.
Bates Motel was pretty cool. When I saw the screaming college kids I thought "THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO DO NEXT YEAR!!" Again, the metal fencing is bad. Not sure how they could theme the blockade and towers/pillars. Perhaps here and the path to Psycho house have plants/bushes.
Why did they have a gored girl in a chair with a butcher next to the House?? I didn't get that. Norman was cool.
War of the Worlds fencing/blockade could have definately be themed to airplane wreckage and other destroyed objects with places for scarers to hide. The attacked victims and zombie eaters were just there. Their movements were slow and limited. Looked a bit dull. The squirting blood was cool.
So going back, the tram stops before going in the mummy tomb... FOREVER. It got very boring. I wish they had scarers here since it was VERY dark. I can see why they don't have scarers at load stations, because people waiting in line will see and will expect it. Anyways, after listening to the tour guide freak out for 5 minutes, we finally moved on and saw a chained girl in the forest and a guy chopping up bodies. This must be a very boring area to work at. The Director replaces the mummy as our tormentor. More video playback. Some event was taking place at Gibson. Got out at 7:30PM and there was no wait for Terror Tram, complete walk on.
*FEAR FACTOR LIVE: DEAD CELEBRITY EDITION* 30 minute show
The 8PM line didn't even fill up one queue line before 7:50PM when they let people inside the theater. Very lacking in crowds. One employee talked to a mother with 2 small children about the adult content of the show. She was perfectly fine with it. That's another thing, I was surprised there were so small children at this event. Anyway, the theater SLOWLY got guests inside. I was wondering if even half the theater was going to be filled. The theater needs a larger and lit sign for the show. But that's not the main problem. THe show really was a bit of a bore. The clown hosts were okay, but the script was bad. I don't really want to be reminded of Fear Factor with a Halloween layover. I wanted a real "The Hanging" and "Bill & Ted" type of show. I don't know if this was a lousy effort or they tried to make a new identiy for the park, but they could definately improve it. The 1st stunt had SO many characters running around, it was confusing. They need to do a REAL pop-culture parody show, BUT they can still use the Fear Factor stuff (spinning floor, hang em high, and "shocking" finale) and they can keep the clown hosts.
*SLAUGHTER WORLD* 20 minute show
8:45PM show had a good crowd. It really is Waterworld with some sexual and adult references. Plus some head gore theme close to the guests. 2 highlights for me, Helen's top rips off revealing a red bra and she ends up doing a tease. Then Deacon does something unexpected at the end.
Walked around, people watched, and had free samples at Full Throttle near Coke Soak.
*CHUCKY'S INSULT EMPORIUM* 15 minute show
9:30PM. Never the same show twice. The puppet stage is set up over on a balcony so lots of people can see. I wish they had more themeing up there and a different puppet. The current puppet looks cheap. This was still a pretty good interactive element to have.
People watched
*THE MUTAYTOR* 30 minute, I think each show it different
They had go-go dancers around and they leave 15 minutes before show time. A person in a fiber optic light suit replaced them. Visually and musically neat. The 5 or so fire blasts are pretty cool. They start them off to get people's attention. Consists of different acts. 1 was strange.
Missed the 10:55PM of Carnage show. People watched, browsed shops, 11:15PM Chucky Insults.
*CARNIVAL OF CARNAGE* 30-35 minute show I think
12:05AM showing. Series of acts that involves the human body, bed of nails, fire, broken glass, etc. The hosts reminded me of a mix of Penn & Teller and the two guys they liked on "America's Got Talent".
*HOUSE OF HORRORS* 15 minute posted wait time, was really 5 minutes
Saw I think Pennywise, Dracula's bride??, Leatherface??, Michael, Dracula, Wolfman. I have to agree with another reader, they could have added more themeing. I wanted to see more horror icons. I heard Freddy was around, didn't see him.
*THE ASYLUM* 60 minute wait, precisely. If you're going to try to use a Prioity Pass Acess ticket paper, make sure it has a red stamp on it- I guess its specifically for HHN/mazes.
Spent 55% of the queue in Nickeoldean and 45% in Shrek 4D queue. HEY, THEY SHREK 4D QUEUE IS BEING USED!! HAHA. The Asylum is in the Shrek 4D queue tent. I think in that tent there's metal poles and chains, so it was easy to take them out and put a maze in. A facade was put up before you go inside. Very well themed. Exit through Shrek pre-show. Funniest thing, a group of people peaked through the curtains to the pre-show, BUT they didn't turn around to see the scarer. This made a perfect opportunity for him to scare, which worked well. Exit through the I guess chicken exit.
Overall, really cool night. I did all the Halloween stuff. I didn't waste my time on Jurassic Park in the dark (which Chucky insulted
) and The Mummy. Longest wait times I saw were average 45, max 60, and only 100 for Mummy probably because it's the newest attraction. Anybody know if they had mummies in the queue for mummy ride? Cause one daytime trip I had, they had one and I thought it'd be neat to have it during the HHN.
I didn't get to my car until 2:40AM. Bought a T-shirt
. I videotaped all the shows, so I MIGHT put it on youtube, don't know when I'll have the time.
Got to the parking around 6PM. Secruity at 6:15PM-ish had no waiting. Short lines at the main gates. Surprised to see the park closes at 2AM since I thought they closed midnight, they must have learned something from last week
. They let people inside the park at 6:30 or 45PM. DO NOT PUT YOUR TICKET IN THE SCANNER, GIVE IT TO THE EMPLOYEE! The guy forgot to flip the plastic case so people don't put tickets through. Although it still works and the manual scanner denied my ticket at first, for some reason they don't have people scan the ticket themselves... At the entrance plaza, had the live statue on the fountain. A couple of go-go female teaser dancers on the sides with zombie masks, but they still showed off their body . Nothing is open until 7PM. The walkway beside Shrek4D is closed for Asylum queue. Some employees had cloaks and others in non-themed Universal employee shirts. LOTS of employees everywhere.*TERROR TRAM* I spent 20 minutes in "maze and 10 minutes on tram there and back
Went to the Terror Tram first, I got on the 3rd tram and like I suspected, the tram made a U turn to go "back" to the Grinch sets instead of going through back and frontlot, which is a good thing. Oh, there was some perverted character walking around the load station with bloody underpants. The tour guides acted pretty much the same as always, but with a different script of course. Showed a video about The Director. I wished they didn't tell us we were getting dropped off and allowed to wonder the sets. I kinda wanted a story. Like at the drop-off they act like the tram is having problems so they tell us to get out until they can fix it. But I went on the Tram early, so I don't know how later in the night it plays out.
First was Clowns (Grinch), college massacre (Bates Motel), Psycho House with Norman and a gored girl in a chair with a butcher for some reason, and zombies (War of the Worlds). I really wished the metal fences weren't there. They needed more sets and props and themed fencing/blockade. They should have sets up on the opposite side of Grinch set to balance things out and let scarers wonder in that. Set the Grinch cars to blockade people from getting into the real Grinch set. The clown theme is fine, they just need more. And pillars/towers for scarers to hide behind.
Bates Motel was pretty cool. When I saw the screaming college kids I thought "THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO DO NEXT YEAR!!" Again, the metal fencing is bad. Not sure how they could theme the blockade and towers/pillars. Perhaps here and the path to Psycho house have plants/bushes.
Why did they have a gored girl in a chair with a butcher next to the House?? I didn't get that. Norman was cool.
War of the Worlds fencing/blockade could have definately be themed to airplane wreckage and other destroyed objects with places for scarers to hide. The attacked victims and zombie eaters were just there. Their movements were slow and limited. Looked a bit dull. The squirting blood was cool.
So going back, the tram stops before going in the mummy tomb... FOREVER. It got very boring. I wish they had scarers here since it was VERY dark. I can see why they don't have scarers at load stations, because people waiting in line will see and will expect it. Anyways, after listening to the tour guide freak out for 5 minutes, we finally moved on and saw a chained girl in the forest and a guy chopping up bodies. This must be a very boring area to work at. The Director replaces the mummy as our tormentor. More video playback. Some event was taking place at Gibson. Got out at 7:30PM and there was no wait for Terror Tram, complete walk on.
*FEAR FACTOR LIVE: DEAD CELEBRITY EDITION* 30 minute show
The 8PM line didn't even fill up one queue line before 7:50PM when they let people inside the theater. Very lacking in crowds. One employee talked to a mother with 2 small children about the adult content of the show. She was perfectly fine with it. That's another thing, I was surprised there were so small children at this event. Anyway, the theater SLOWLY got guests inside. I was wondering if even half the theater was going to be filled. The theater needs a larger and lit sign for the show. But that's not the main problem. THe show really was a bit of a bore. The clown hosts were okay, but the script was bad. I don't really want to be reminded of Fear Factor with a Halloween layover. I wanted a real "The Hanging" and "Bill & Ted" type of show. I don't know if this was a lousy effort or they tried to make a new identiy for the park, but they could definately improve it. The 1st stunt had SO many characters running around, it was confusing. They need to do a REAL pop-culture parody show, BUT they can still use the Fear Factor stuff (spinning floor, hang em high, and "shocking" finale) and they can keep the clown hosts.
*SLAUGHTER WORLD* 20 minute show
8:45PM show had a good crowd. It really is Waterworld with some sexual and adult references. Plus some head gore theme close to the guests. 2 highlights for me, Helen's top rips off revealing a red bra and she ends up doing a tease. Then Deacon does something unexpected at the end.
Walked around, people watched, and had free samples at Full Throttle near Coke Soak.
*CHUCKY'S INSULT EMPORIUM* 15 minute show
9:30PM. Never the same show twice. The puppet stage is set up over on a balcony so lots of people can see. I wish they had more themeing up there and a different puppet. The current puppet looks cheap. This was still a pretty good interactive element to have.
People watched
*THE MUTAYTOR* 30 minute, I think each show it different
They had go-go dancers around and they leave 15 minutes before show time. A person in a fiber optic light suit replaced them. Visually and musically neat. The 5 or so fire blasts are pretty cool. They start them off to get people's attention. Consists of different acts. 1 was strange.
Missed the 10:55PM of Carnage show. People watched, browsed shops, 11:15PM Chucky Insults.
*CARNIVAL OF CARNAGE* 30-35 minute show I think
12:05AM showing. Series of acts that involves the human body, bed of nails, fire, broken glass, etc. The hosts reminded me of a mix of Penn & Teller and the two guys they liked on "America's Got Talent".
*HOUSE OF HORRORS* 15 minute posted wait time, was really 5 minutes
Saw I think Pennywise, Dracula's bride??, Leatherface??, Michael, Dracula, Wolfman. I have to agree with another reader, they could have added more themeing. I wanted to see more horror icons. I heard Freddy was around, didn't see him.
*THE ASYLUM* 60 minute wait, precisely. If you're going to try to use a Prioity Pass Acess ticket paper, make sure it has a red stamp on it- I guess its specifically for HHN/mazes.
Spent 55% of the queue in Nickeoldean and 45% in Shrek 4D queue. HEY, THEY SHREK 4D QUEUE IS BEING USED!! HAHA. The Asylum is in the Shrek 4D queue tent. I think in that tent there's metal poles and chains, so it was easy to take them out and put a maze in. A facade was put up before you go inside. Very well themed. Exit through Shrek pre-show. Funniest thing, a group of people peaked through the curtains to the pre-show, BUT they didn't turn around to see the scarer. This made a perfect opportunity for him to scare, which worked well
. Exit through the I guess chicken exit.Overall, really cool night. I did all the Halloween stuff. I didn't waste my time on Jurassic Park in the dark (which Chucky insulted
) and The Mummy. Longest wait times I saw were average 45, max 60, and only 100 for Mummy probably because it's the newest attraction. Anybody know if they had mummies in the queue for mummy ride? Cause one daytime trip I had, they had one and I thought it'd be neat to have it during the HHN.I didn't get to my car until 2:40AM. Bought a T-shirt
. I videotaped all the shows, so I MIGHT put it on youtube, don't know when I'll have the time.
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