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I went on a very crowded Saturday night without an Express Pass and with someone who is so wonderful that I was happy to go along with her desire to see Jabbberwokeez (Spelling?) for the second year in a row. After going through Stranger Things with our early entry, we went to the lowest section and saw a 130-minute wait for Ghostbusters and never went through, though after midnight would've been the best time unless you hit it first.
We arrived at Universal Hollywood at about 1pm on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019 and got a large part of our $27 parking fee (Damn you, Universal.), refunded by seeing "It: Chapter 2" at AMC's multiplex. We loved it!
Then we had an excellent meal at Karl Strauss--my favorite restaurant on Universal's property, though The 3 Broomsticks is also fun. They served us quickly because we wanted to get into HHN early. Fantastic service, and the Red Trolly Ale was good as always. I've been here at least ten times and every meal was delicious!
First maze--STRANGER THINGS. My daughter LOVED it last year, but the 2019 version was the most disappointing maze I've EVER experienced--and I've been to U, Knott's, and the Queen Mary over a dozen times combined. Many small AA demogorgons were scattered around and sat by themselves in the walls--mostly the same size--all boring. I thought it might be good to hit this maze first because the soundstage could keep out the daylight, but you could see the ceiling high above--I owe Small World's ceiling an apology. Just a totally boring maze. Maybe a bunch of scare actors were on a break. Unless you are really, really into Stranger Things, I urge you to skip this and go to the lowest part of HHN and go straight to Ghostbusters, then Killer Clowns.
Frankenstein vs. Wolfman was OK. The first time we see the Wolfman he's changing, and just in a mask but the mask was cool. After that the wolf men didn't look very impressive. There was a much better one in the Creepshow maze. I didn't like that Frankenstein's Monster's lower teeth jutted out on one side & thought it just made him look silly.
The Creepshow maze was fun. Every maze should have entertainment while people wait in line like this one did. (Cheap TV show clips projected against screen on a wall. Better than nothing.) Like with Pandora's Box (see below), the narrow passages gave the monsters a home court advantage and increased their ability to scare us. We laughed a lot.
The tunnel to get from the lower lot to the lowest lot had some actors in a loud atmosphere I wouldn't' want to spend an hour in, but they were impressively energetic. One was funny and liked to dance with people before scaring them.
Both Starbucks were open and had short lines.
"Us" was another maze with a super-long line (2+ hours) we failed to get to.
We LOVED Pandora's box! So perfect. It seems they enjoy creating mazes like this when they aren't supposed to be recreating a big big-budget movie with a muuuuuuch smaller maze budget. The line turned out to be 20 to 30 minutes longer than the posted time, but it was worth it. So beautiful & creative. Amazing monsters with many effective scares.
The Jabberwokeez (Spelling?) show was lively and different from what I remember last year. It's impressive, but what is it doing at HHN? They could at least try to make it a Halloween-themed show. So there is ONLY ONE SHOW at HHN and it ISN'T EVEN HALLOWEEN THEMED IN ANY WAY?! WEAK!
Bring back "Splatter World" in the Water World theater, and show the Dark Arts Harry Potter show 3 to 5 time each night during this event, then obviously have Hogsmeade a foggy scare zone with dementors and insulting Slytherins. I know Rowling's contract currently prohibits some things. RENEGOTIATE.
We liked the Holidays in Hell Maze. Creative & fun, and let us out into a scare zone. Short line too. Mrs. Claus in the scare zone scared the $%!+ out of me. Not my most impressive moment.
There was also a short line for the Walking Dead. We were here during the day a couple of weeks ago and did not notice that they'd plussed it with extra zombies for HHN. Weak.
Scare zone monsters were fun on a whole, but I think the Queen Mary has the most impressive scare zone monsters, Many seem to be real actors there. And Knott's has my favorite Scare zones in S. California.
So if we return next year, will skip season 3 & 4 of Stranger Things, and skip Japperwalkeezyyawn3, and see if we can hit 7 or 8 of the mazes on a Saturday night. I'm too cheap for U's expensive Express Passes, but I wouldn't do the Queen Mary's Dark Harbor without it. And I always hit Knott's Scary Farm's Boo-fet with its early entry.
I think replacing the Terror Tram with two more mazes was a very good move.
This was the nicest HHN crowd I've been around. (I think this was my 4th or 5th HHN.)
I wish U. had a themed moderately priced hotel or two on their property, and a few more non-Universal hotels off property near the bottom of the hill, or still really close with great transportation to save the parking fee would be nice. Universal, eminent domain that gold course! below.
The CMs monk robes are perfect costumes. They're appropriate for Halloween and give the CMs a peaceful gravitas.
So re recap. my advice:
Arrive to the resort at 1pm.
See the movie "It: Chapter 2" at AMC & get your partial parking refund.
Eat at Karl Strauss.
Early Entry.
Skip Stranger Things--don''t even glance at this maze all night. Pretend to spit in its general direction.
Instead rush to Ghostbusters & Killer Clowns,
then go to US & Pandora's box.
Then take a coffee/tea break at Starbucks, then try to hit the other mazes.
Then sleep.
Then report back to us, please.
Sorry for the many typos when I first posted this, and that I've probably still failed to fix.
We arrived at Universal Hollywood at about 1pm on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019 and got a large part of our $27 parking fee (Damn you, Universal.), refunded by seeing "It: Chapter 2" at AMC's multiplex. We loved it!
Then we had an excellent meal at Karl Strauss--my favorite restaurant on Universal's property, though The 3 Broomsticks is also fun. They served us quickly because we wanted to get into HHN early. Fantastic service, and the Red Trolly Ale was good as always. I've been here at least ten times and every meal was delicious!
First maze--STRANGER THINGS. My daughter LOVED it last year, but the 2019 version was the most disappointing maze I've EVER experienced--and I've been to U, Knott's, and the Queen Mary over a dozen times combined. Many small AA demogorgons were scattered around and sat by themselves in the walls--mostly the same size--all boring. I thought it might be good to hit this maze first because the soundstage could keep out the daylight, but you could see the ceiling high above--I owe Small World's ceiling an apology. Just a totally boring maze. Maybe a bunch of scare actors were on a break. Unless you are really, really into Stranger Things, I urge you to skip this and go to the lowest part of HHN and go straight to Ghostbusters, then Killer Clowns.
Frankenstein vs. Wolfman was OK. The first time we see the Wolfman he's changing, and just in a mask but the mask was cool. After that the wolf men didn't look very impressive. There was a much better one in the Creepshow maze. I didn't like that Frankenstein's Monster's lower teeth jutted out on one side & thought it just made him look silly.
The Creepshow maze was fun. Every maze should have entertainment while people wait in line like this one did. (Cheap TV show clips projected against screen on a wall. Better than nothing.) Like with Pandora's Box (see below), the narrow passages gave the monsters a home court advantage and increased their ability to scare us. We laughed a lot.
The tunnel to get from the lower lot to the lowest lot had some actors in a loud atmosphere I wouldn't' want to spend an hour in, but they were impressively energetic. One was funny and liked to dance with people before scaring them.
Both Starbucks were open and had short lines.
"Us" was another maze with a super-long line (2+ hours) we failed to get to.
We LOVED Pandora's box! So perfect. It seems they enjoy creating mazes like this when they aren't supposed to be recreating a big big-budget movie with a muuuuuuch smaller maze budget. The line turned out to be 20 to 30 minutes longer than the posted time, but it was worth it. So beautiful & creative. Amazing monsters with many effective scares.
The Jabberwokeez (Spelling?) show was lively and different from what I remember last year. It's impressive, but what is it doing at HHN? They could at least try to make it a Halloween-themed show. So there is ONLY ONE SHOW at HHN and it ISN'T EVEN HALLOWEEN THEMED IN ANY WAY?! WEAK!
Bring back "Splatter World" in the Water World theater, and show the Dark Arts Harry Potter show 3 to 5 time each night during this event, then obviously have Hogsmeade a foggy scare zone with dementors and insulting Slytherins. I know Rowling's contract currently prohibits some things. RENEGOTIATE.
We liked the Holidays in Hell Maze. Creative & fun, and let us out into a scare zone. Short line too. Mrs. Claus in the scare zone scared the $%!+ out of me. Not my most impressive moment.
There was also a short line for the Walking Dead. We were here during the day a couple of weeks ago and did not notice that they'd plussed it with extra zombies for HHN. Weak.
Scare zone monsters were fun on a whole, but I think the Queen Mary has the most impressive scare zone monsters, Many seem to be real actors there. And Knott's has my favorite Scare zones in S. California.
So if we return next year, will skip season 3 & 4 of Stranger Things, and skip Japperwalkeezyyawn3, and see if we can hit 7 or 8 of the mazes on a Saturday night. I'm too cheap for U's expensive Express Passes, but I wouldn't do the Queen Mary's Dark Harbor without it. And I always hit Knott's Scary Farm's Boo-fet with its early entry.
I think replacing the Terror Tram with two more mazes was a very good move.
This was the nicest HHN crowd I've been around. (I think this was my 4th or 5th HHN.)
I wish U. had a themed moderately priced hotel or two on their property, and a few more non-Universal hotels off property near the bottom of the hill, or still really close with great transportation to save the parking fee would be nice. Universal, eminent domain that gold course! below.
The CMs monk robes are perfect costumes. They're appropriate for Halloween and give the CMs a peaceful gravitas.
So re recap. my advice:
Arrive to the resort at 1pm.
See the movie "It: Chapter 2" at AMC & get your partial parking refund.
Eat at Karl Strauss.
Early Entry.
Skip Stranger Things--don''t even glance at this maze all night. Pretend to spit in its general direction.
Instead rush to Ghostbusters & Killer Clowns,
then go to US & Pandora's box.
Then take a coffee/tea break at Starbucks, then try to hit the other mazes.
Then sleep.
Then report back to us, please.
Sorry for the many typos when I first posted this, and that I've probably still failed to fix.
I do run half marathons though LOL! Dark Harbor is our favorite event down south!
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